
Class _l_ i 

Book .'■ 



GoipgM . 



CDEffiKGHT DEPOSIT. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND 
PAPERS 




Luther Leonidas Hi 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES 
and PAPERS 



OF 



REV. LUTHER LEONIDAS HILL 



Published for Private Circulation by His Children 
Montgomery, Alabama, 1919 



NEW YORK 

THE FLEMING H. REVELL PRESS 
1919 



Copyright, 1910, by 
FLEMING H. REVEIX COMPANY 






ulu -5 ;3I8 



New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 



©CI.A5368 41 



PREFACE 

MORE than twenty-five years have elapsed 
since the final dismissal of Rev. Luther 
Leonidas Hill, and the issues and contro- 
versies in which he was engaged have lost their liv- 
ing interest and belong to the student of history. 
There was in him an innate simplicity and aloof- 
ness that would not look with favor upon the publi- 
cation of this sketch of his life and which will ren- 
der the drawing of a portraiture the more difficult. 

The occasion of the publication is a request from 
the historical department of his state; and the cause, 
a hope that some thought or accomplishment of his 
may be set free, as when a flint strikes steel, which 
falling upon the mental tinder of posterity, may 
stimulate an ancestral pride and cause the springing 
up of an ambitious flame to illuminate a studious 
path and help onward a ad upward. 

The publication is an offering to his descendants 
by those who knew him best and loved him most, 
and is never to be commercialized by a sale or 
monetary consideration. 



CONTENTS 

An Appreciation 

Biographical Sketch 13 

Part One — Sermons 

Recreations 29 

The Tree of Knowledge . . 45 

Part Two — Addresses 

Benjamin Franklin 75 

Education 84 

The Will 96 

Part Three — Papers 
Was Not the Best Possible Model Adopted in 

the Creation of Man ? 105 

How Did Sin Produce Death? 107 

How Does the Death of Christ Give Life? ... Ill 

Our Critic Criticised 117 

A Rejoinder 121 

The Diaconate 125 

The Diaconate 134 

Wrong Righted ; . 141 

Ego's Views of the Phenomena of Life Re- 
viewed 147 

Evolution 151 

Mr. Beecher's Lecture Reviewed 156 

An Anodyne for False Fears 163 

The Eastern Question 167 

5 



6 CONTENTS 

Lawmakers 176 

The Law's Delays 179 

Carrying Concealed Weapons 183 

Why the Difference? 186 

Baldwin v. Kouns 190 

The Equitable Side of Murder 197 

Guiteau 199 

Other Points in the Guiteau Case 203 

The Trial of Guiteau 210 

Guiteau 215 

"Justitia Virtutum Regina" 220 

A Subject of Great Public Interest 229 

Weights Off in the Race of Life 234 

The Suitable Education for the Negro 239 

Part Four — Lktt^rs 

To Miss Laura Croom 249 

To Governor Thomas Seay 264 

To Mrs. Amelia Lyons 268 

To His Wife and Children 272 

Appendix 

Address of William W. Hill 277 

Sermon of William W. Hill 290 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing Page 

Luther Leonidas Hill Title 

"Rosemary Hill," the Country Home of L. L. 

Hill 29 

The Children of L. L. Hill 75 

The Home of L. L. Hill, Montgomery, Ala. . . 105 

Laura Croom Hill 249 

William Wallace Hill 278 



AN APPRECIATION 

H. H. McNeiUt, D.D., Pastor, Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South 

Marianna, Fla., Jan. n, 1918. 
Dr. Luther L,. Hiu,, 

Montgomery, Ala. 

Dear Luther: I am glad that you have decided to publish a 
brief sketch of the lives of your father and mother, and a col- 
lection of your father's writings. Such a book will be a 
decided contribution to Alabama history. 

I am confident that I knew your father more intimately 
than any one now living — the inwardness of him. His stead- 
fast friendship and affectionate regard is still a potent factor 
in my life. What Paul was to the young Timothy your fa- 
ther was to me in the beginning of my ministry. He received 
me in to his home, which I often visited, as he would greet 
his son. His conversations were of a high order, always in- 
structive and edifying, duly interspersed with rich humor 
of which he had a great fund. I used to wonder at the great 
variety of subjects with which he was familiar, the details of 
which he would discuss with accurate knowledge. It was 
generally conceded that his intellect and ripe scholarship had 
no superior in the state. His vocabulary was quite exten- 
sive and at his ready command. He was forceful in debate, 
the knight that stood before him must be gallant and agile. 
He wrote much for newspapers and other periodicals, both 
religious and secular, and I am delighted at seeing them again 
in print. His subjects ranged from abstruse problems in 
theology and metaphysics to the life and habits of the pigeon 
and he discussed them all with remarkable erudition. 

He was noble and generous of soul, knightly in his bearing, 
patient with the faults of his fellows, severe on their hypoc- 
risies. He was decided in his convictions, holding them at 
all costs. He was progressive, and aggressive when there was 
need — a hard fighter when the fight was on. 

H. H. McNehj,. 
9 



EDITORIAL 

(From Montgomery Journal) 

Rev. Dr. L. L. Hill, Sr., whose serious illness was men- 
tioned in Saturday's Journal, died Saturday night about 11 
o'clock. If he had lived till July Dr. Hill would have cele- 
brated his seventieth birthday. He was a man of vigorous 
mind and body, an honest, honorable, upright man in all the 
relations of life; and was a true man, devoted to his family 
and friends, and was firm in his purpose and convictions. 
He was well informed and a shrewd observer, and was a 
frequent contributor to newspapers, always writing clearly 
and forcibly. He was not only logical, forceful in expression 
and a close reasoner, but was philosophical, and judicial in 
tone and temper. He was a man of rare attainments, varied 
talents, and a cultivated mind, and as an evidence of the es- 
teem in which he was held in the community his funeral yes- 
terday was one of the largest witnessed in this city in many 
years. No man was more scrupulously just, or more uncalcu- 
latingly generous and charitable. Kind, just and conscientious 
he did not bear malice, and bowed not to power, but was ever 
inclined to the side of the weak. Perhaps this caused him to 
be misunderstood by many, but those who knew him best 
loved and respected him most. 

DEATH OF REV. h. I,. HIU, 

(From Montgomery Advertiser) 

The serious illness of this old and respected citizen of 
Montgomery has been a subject of deep concern to a host of 
friends in the city for some days, and at n o'clock last night 
the fatal summons came. Dr. Hill was one of the oldest resi- 
dents of Montgomery, having lived in the city and county for 
over forty years. He was a man of fine ability and but for 
a defect in hearing would have easily ranked among the fine 
speakers of the day. As a writer he was close in reasoning 
and vigorous in expression. He was warm-hearted and 

II 



12 EDITORIAL 

strong in his attachments. In the family circle and as a 
citizen he was upright and blameless. His death is a serious 
loss to Montgomery and the community extends to his widow 
and children sincere condolence in their hour of affliction. 

REV. h. L. Hia, D.D. 
(From The Alliance Herald) 

When a demagogue passes over the river, the beneficiaries 
of his conduct feel his loss; but when a manly man, an hon- 
est man, and a man of ability, courage and conviction is called 
from the busy scenes of life, it is a calamity to the community. 
Dr. Hill was a scholar, an orator, and a bold and fearless 
exponent of what he conceived to be duty and obligation. In 
all the trials and vicissitudes through which our people have 
passed, he was a prominent figure for law, order and good 
government. In the Church, he was a power, and his labors 
were blessed with remarkable success. In all the relations of 
life, he was true, sincere and faithful. Learned and wise, 
with nerve and courage to urge his convictions, he wielded 
an influence and power few men ever possessed; and all his 
efforts were for the elevation and uplifting of man and the 
promotion of the cause of the Master. At a ripe old age, he 
has been gathered to the home of the blest, leaving the herit- 
age of an unspotted reputation and countless acts of mercy, 
goodness and charity to cause his crown to sparkle through 
eternity as a faithful steward in the vineyard of the Lord. 

In this city, where the strength and vigor of his manhood 
were expended and the labors of his life found fruition in 
good works, his kindly cheer, his words of encouragement, 
and his wise counsel will be sadly missed, and all feel an ir- 
reparable loss. 



LUTHER LEONIDAS HILL 

AND 

LAURA CROOM HILL 

THE Hills are of Welsh descent. Their an- 
cestors migrated to America in the Seven- 
teenth Century. The father of Luther L. 
Hill, the Rev. William W. Hill, was born in the 
state of North Carolina, July 21, 1788. Rev. Wil- 
liam W. Hill married Nancy Bowen, and of this 
union Luther L. Hill was born July 21, 1823, at 
Warrenton, Hyde County, N. C, the fifth of nine 
children. In 1829 the family moved to Alabama 
and located at Greensboro. Rev. William W. Hill 
was possessed of an extraordinary mind and though 
self-taught his intellectual attainments were of the 
highest order. His answer to the charge of "In- 
veighing against discipline and sowing dissension 
in societies" brought by the Rev. Benjamin Edge 
was titanic in denunciation and a Philippic of in- 
vective. After coming to Alabama be became one 
of the largest and wealthiest cotton growers in the 
state. He maintained the greatest interest in the 
welfare and upbuilding of his church, though his 
health prevented his accepting a regular charge. 
His dedicatory sermon of the Montgomery Method- 
ist Protestant Church was pronounced a classic. He 
died at Greensboro, Ala., Oct. 10, 1849. 

13 



14 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

Nancy Bowen, the wife of Rev. William W. Hill, 
was born in North Carolina, Feb. 24, 1796. She 
was the daughter of the Quaker preacher, Rev. 
Thomas Bowen. She imbibed much of the piety 
and religious devotion of the Society of Friends 
which did not tolerate "places of diversion." This 
enabled her to have more time to cultivate her splen- 
did mind and her natural humility exerted a great 
influence upon her son, an influence that he often 
acknowledged in public and private. She died at 
Greensboro, Ala., Aug. 28, 1858. 

Educational advantages in those days were very 
inferior to what they are at this time, and as was 
the custom with well-to-do citizens, Rev. William 
W. Hill employed a tutor for his children, who was 
a Mr. Williams, a highly educated Scotchman. L. L. 
Hill passed a sickly adolescence and was kept out 
of school and traveled in the effort to build up his 
frail constitution. A great writer has said "The 
mind, lying fallow and remaining idle gathers 
strength; ignorance breeds a longing for knowl- 
edge, and of this hunger of the brain Genius is 
born." It was certainly so with Rev. Luther L. 
Hill, for his desire for enlightenment overwhelmed 
him and his capacity for attainment was marvellous. 

We will follow what would be his wishes and 
what would harmonize with his pure and simple 
life, and write no extended eulogy, but simply 
record a few of his characteristics and publish some 
of his writings, as many are unfortunately hidden in 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 15 

the anonimity of journalism. He never sought ap- 
plause nor public approbation. He was no trimmer, 
varnisher nor veneerer, but candid as light. He 
knew of two roads — right and wrong — and traveled 
only one. He never made an apology nor gave an 
explanation, but "left his actions and words to jus- 
tify and vindicate themselves." He was six feet in 
height and weighed a hundred and sixty-five pounds, 
with a massive head and clear cut features. He 
possessed a large aquiline nose, sharp, piercing eyes, 
a closely fitting, determined mouth, and a benignant 
smile that mirrored a great inward soul. 

In 1846 he was licensed as a deacon in the 
Methodist Protestant Church and his license was 
signed by his father. In 1848 he was married to 
Miss Mary Helener Walton, the daughter of a dis- 
tinguished citizen of Augusta, Ga. — Mr. Thomas 
Walton. Of the children of this union only one, 
the youngest, Walton W. Hill, LL.B., born De- 
cember 20, 1855, reached maturity : his death 
occurred April 28, 1899. In 1849 he surren- 
dered his license as a deacon and commenced 
the study of law, and was admitted to the Su- 
preme Court of Alabama, but never practiced. 
In 1859 he was licensed as an elder in the Methodist 
Protestant Church and his first charge was the 
Montgomery station. He soon became one of the 
most noted pulpit orators of his day. His mind 
was intensely analytic and logical. He had a culti- 
vated sense of agreement and propriety in his die- 



16 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

tion and his discourses were fertile in sententious- 
ness and illustration. He was liberal, broad minded, 
and progressive — accorded to all the right of free- 
dom of thought and the chivalry of discussion. 
The profundity of his knowledge and his intellectual 
scope and grasp were recognized by the university 
of his native state and two denominational colleges 
that offered to confer upon him the doctor's degree, 
but they were modestly declined. On account of a 
developing impairment in his hearing he retired 
from the pulpit and became a large and successful 
planter in Montgomery County. Of this ever-in- 
creasing deafness, shutting him out from the heaven 
of sound, blighting his life and shackeling his use- 
fulness, he never complained; though his inquisi- 
tive mind was unable to fathom and explain why 
this misfortune was fastened upon him, and in his 
last hours the revelation that he soon expected was 
a solace. 

His first wife having died in 1856, he married 
Miss Laura Sarah Croom, of Greensboro, Ala., 
February, 1861. Of the twelve children of this 
union, eight reached maturity: Luther L. Hill, 
M.D., LL.D., born January 22, 1862; William W. 
Hill, LL.B, born August 8, 1868; Robert S. Hill, 
M.D., born February 9, 1870; Bessie H. Hill (Mrs. 
C. H. Bartlett), born August 2, 1871; Thomas B. 
Hill, D.D.S., born July 20, 1873; Wiley C. Hill, 
LL.B., born September 6, 1876; Eugene L. Hill, 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 17 

A.M., D.D., born August 2, 1878; Eaura H. Hill 
(Mrs. E. V. Robison), born December 20, 1881. 

Few men had better insight into human nature or 
so correctly grasped the motives of men. The ac- 
curacy of analysis of events and happenings, and the 
prophetic vision of this acute and subtle brain were 
at times almost akin to weirdness. It might not be 
amiss to mention an illustrative incident. He was 
ever our mentor. We told him of our hopes and 
ambitions, and he knew of our failures and disap- 
pointments. One of his sons held a position of 
trust and honor in the Medical Society and told him 
there would be no opposition in the re-election. 
Within two hours he called at the office and 
said, "You know, being deaf, I could not hear a 
word, but I unexpectedly walked upon Drs. J. and 
S. in consultation and I read in their discomfiture 
that an attempt is going to be made tonight to en- 
compass your defeat." Turning to leave he said 
in the words of Richelieu, "In the lexicon of youth, 
which fate reserves for a bright manhood, there is 
no such word as fail." His interpretation of the 
conference proved eminently correct, and with joy 
the report was made that the injunction of the great 
Cardinal had been heeded. 

His memory was an intellectual jewelry store, but 
he was modest in exhibiting his gems. If an intel- 
lectual friend introduced a fact, however long since 
hidden in the past, he usually recognized it as an old 
and familiar acquaintance. 



18 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

In politics he was a Douglas Democrat and an 
intensely union man. Every address was flecked 
with union sentiment until Alabama seceded, and 
then he volunteered as a Confederate soldier but 
after a brief service was forced to retire on account 
of his deafness. He was an admirer of the sim- 
plicity of Jefferson, but a follower of Hamilton. 
With him the war ended at Appomattox. He ac- 
cepted the conditions and formed a partnership with 
a Union soldier, Judge Charles W. Buckley, and 
commenced to build up his lost fortune in cotton 
planting. He sympathized with the negro and re- 
spected his burden. He could not endure the un- 
American aberrant sentimentalism of the foreign 
immigrants, but he had the profoundest regard for 
the dignity of labor. His sympathies touched the 
two extremes of human life and were as wide as 
want. They stretched downward to the lowest in 
the valley of humiliation, and reached upward to 
the loftiest peak of exaltation : none were beneath, 
none were above them. They were too noble to 
allow envy to take the place of deserved admiration. 
They were too just and generous to allow abject 
poverty, misfortune, or the loathsomeness of dis- 
ease to place a human being beneath them, for he 
"spanned with divine sympathy the hideous gulf 
that separates the fallen from the pure." This was 
illustrated in an article saturated with charity and 
forgiveness that he wrote to mitigate an overzealous 
prosecution of the fallen women of Montgomery. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 19 

The profundity of his knowledge and his versa- 
tility were illustrated in his teaching of his chil- 
dren. About seven in the evenings they assembled 
around a large table. Varying according to their 
ages, the instruction ranged from elementary 
branches to the translation of the Latin and Greek 
classics and higher mathematics. He was convers- 
ant with all and capable of teaching all. No sem- 
blance of dissimulation would be tolerated and it 
was too hazardous to attempt, for he was the keen- 
est of critics. The work finished, there was usually 
a second supper with all abandonment of the re- 
straint of relentless insistence, and a joyous com- 
munion of heart and soul into which he unreservedly 
entered. With a fine, natural sense of humor, culti- 
vated and enriched by a perfect familiarity with the 
writings of Mark Twain, Moliere and other humor- 
ists, he was genial, entertaining and companionable. 
He was the kindest and most sympathetic of fathers, 
and upon the altar of his children's welfare and bet- 
terment he burned the incense of his love. Of life- 
long Christian faith, no breakfast was ever eaten 
nor supper served that was not followed by family 
prayer in his household. 

After a brief illness on the evening of the 20th 
day of May, 1893, he realized that the end was ap- 
proaching, "that there could not fall again within 
his eyes the trembling lustre of another dawn," and 
that the strong hand that piloted his family destinies 
was dropping from the helm and, by his leaving, 



20 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

soon there would be inevitable changes and read- 
justments. Calling his family around him he ac- 
centuated unity and harmony, relating the fable of 
"The Father and Sons," and as he closed with a 
prayer, panoplied with a Christian faith, he walked 
serenely into the "dark valley of the shadow," with 
his pathway lighted by the torch of generous deeds. 

Any attempt to translate into words the life of 
Luther L. Hill which ignores the contributory factor 
to be found in Laura Croom Hill, will of necessity 
be incomplete. To separate his life from hers 
would be to rob the oak of its foliage, to extract the 
fragrance from the hyacinth, or leave the violet 
without the richness of its color. Their lives were 
inseparable, and her influence expressed itself 
through him. 

On December 9th, 1840, Laura Croom Hill was 
born in Greensboro, Ala. She was the twelfth child 
of Wiley Jones Croom and Elizabeth Holliday, and 
was a descendant of the Crooms and Holliday s of 
North Carolina, where both of her parents were 
born. From this sturdy English ancestry, which 
prided itself upon its family history and gave much 
time to searching after family connections and trac- 
ing relationships, she inherited her strength of mind, 
love of education, and integrity of character. 

In 1844 her mother died, and five years later her 
father left her an orphan intrusted to the tender 
care of her beloved sister, the late Mrs. Eliza Tun- 
stall, who had her thoroughly educated at the fa- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 21 

mous Hubert Lefabre School in Richmond, Va., 
and the no less noted school of the East, The Abbott 
School of New York City. 

After traveling extensively she returned to 
Greensboro, Ala., and became one of the most popu- 
lar young women of Alabama. Her popularity was 
not confined to her associates among the young peo- 
ple, with whom her personal beauty and brilliancy 
of intellect and warmth of enthusiasm commanded 
attention ; but she was loved by the aged because of 
her reverence for and attention to them, and the 
children admired her because of her adaptability to 
their interests. 

In 1858 she attended the funeral of a saintly 
mother, whose eight sons, bent in grief and broken 
in heart, stood about the open grave; and she saw 
for the first time the man whose destiny was to be 
sealed with hers for weal or for woe, for joy or for 
unhappiness. She was profoundly impressed with 
his tall and manly physique, his tender and gentle 
manners, and his great devotion to his mother. Not 
many weeks after this Luther L. Hill was talking 
to a number of associates on the streets of Greens- 
boro when a street vendor of vegetables and fruits 
joined the party and remarked, "Miss Laura Croom 
is the sweetest and kindest young lady in town. She 
never lets me pass her home without serving the cup 
of coffee on the cold day and the glass of cool water 
on the warm day; and what she does for me she 
does for all others of my class." This expression 



22 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

of appreciation on the part of this son of toil pro- 
foundly impressed the mind of the young minister 
and he sought an introduction, which grew into 
mutual admiration and resulted in devotion, which 
culminated in marriage on February 27, 1861. At 
this point their lives were blended into a duality of 
personality, and it is hard to separate, in thought 
even, the one from the other. 

The subject of this sketch was a marked illustra- 
tion of the woman of the Old South. She belonged 
to the days when woman created gallantry and 
crowned chivalry. The ideas which were formu- 
lated by her mind were forceful and clear. The 
feelings that sprang from her heart were queenly, 
rich and luxuriant. The tone of her life was as 
pure as the liquid note of the woodlark's evening 
song when she calls to her mate. 

Laura Croom Hill, like the wife of Thomas Car- 
lyle, was one of the most gifted young women of 
her day, whose signal talents and educational ad- 
vantages might have shone in the drawing-rooms 
of society like the blazing sapphire, but she had but 
one inspiration in life after her marriage and that 
was to make an ideal home; and to this end she 
placed her very being upon the altar of sacrifice — • 
fuel to feed the flame of her husband's genius and 
her children's success and happiness. 

;She made love the operative law of her life and 
the symbolic sceptre of her authority. This prin- 
ciple like a flower bloomed in perpetual beauty 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 23 

wherever she went, and was identified not only 
with her happiness but her very existence ; and per- 
tained to her soul in its highest aspirations. She 
accomplished things by the force of her heart 
energy. 

For the outside world she had the kindliest feel- 
ings and greatest sympathy. Her every pulse and 
breath was in accord and consonance with all that 
was good and true; in her breast was "the touch of 
nature that makes the whole world kin." Her home 
was always open to the touch of the lonely and des- 
titute. Jean Valjean knocked at the door of the 
good bishop, and, when a kind voice invited him in, 
he threw open the door and said, "My name is Jean 
Valjean; I am a galley slave. May I stay here for 
the night ?" The good man replied, "This is not 
my house, but the house of Christ; this door asks 
not him who enters whether he have a name, but if 
he have sorrow." Her home was known to all the 
ministers of her husband's church, who enjoyed the 
freest and warmest hospitality, and who came in 
crowds, always making it convenient to come by 
this oasis along the desert way of many a lonely 
traveler. 

As a mother in the home she was ever an inspira- 
tion and incentive to her children. She exercised 
discipline, but it was always justice tempered with 
mercy that characterized her inflicted punishments. 
No sacrifice was too supreme to make for her chil- 
dren ; and her eyes was ever piercing into their lives 



24 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

to detect every hint of progress and development, 
which she hailed with a glad heart. There were 
times when she had to give herself to strictest econ- 
omy in order to give her children advantages and 
enable them to prosecute their education and attain 
their professions, but she accepted this as a part of 
her lot as a mother and never let drop from her lips 
a word of complaint. She cheered when the battle's 
front became severe for her husband and he showed 
weariness in the fight, and pointed at her children 
as the incentive for renewing the effort. She w r as 
the idol of her children; and when her soul was 
slipping from earth to heaven, strong men and de- 
voted women stood around her bed bent in sorrow. 
No better inscription could be found to carve upon 
her grave than this, "Her children arise up and call 
her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." 
After her husband died in 1893 she became both 
father and mother to her three youngest children, 
and guided their education and guarded their future 
so well that she commanded respect for her wisdom 
and strength. She lived to see all her children set- 
tled in homes of their own and achieving a reason- 
able success; and enjoyed the knowledge that, out 
of appreciation of and love for her, five of her 
grandchildren bore her name. Having passed her 
alloted three score years and ten she sat serenely in 
the twilight of a life of fulfillment, "waiting for the 
night, watching for the light." On February 20, 
1918, aware without anxiety that the end was ap- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 25 

proaching, with loving interest in others conspicu- 
ous to the last, her dismissal came, leaving as a leg- 
acy to her children the blessed memory of a char- 
acter of radiant purity. Just before she "passed 
over the river to rest under the shade of the trees," 
she expressed the assurance of meeting her husband 
in the home of the blessed, the land of perennial 
Spring, for her celestial hopes, with untiring wings, 
had wafted her soul beyond all that was terrestrial 
and given her a foretaste of a destiny full of glory 
and immortality. 



PART I 
SERMONS 





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RECREATIONS 

Matthew 3:16 — "And, lo, the heavens were opened unto 
Him and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, 
and lighting upon Him." 

THE word translated "dove" in the text might 
with equal, perhaps more, propriety, be ren- 
dered "pigeon," as the latter is more compre- 
hensive, though not so gentle and soft in sound. 
Many think the carrier pigeon did his first act of 
service to man when he returned with the olive leaf 
to the Ark, by which it became the emblem of peace 
and he the symbol of fidelity. 

We are not opposed to amusements and recrea- 
tions; so far from it, we commend them. If any 
persons more than others have a right to a happy, 
cheerful, and even hilarious life, God's obedient 
spiritual children have. It is their privilege, if in- 
deed it is not their duty, in passing through life to 



The above sermon was preached by Rev. L. h. Hill, at 
Snowdoun, Alabama, by request of the Christian people of 
that place, and is published in the Montgomery Advertiser, by 
the earnest and hearty request of those who heard it deliv- 
ered. There were four shooting clubs in Montgomery County 
at the time of its delivery, and all were shortly afterwards 
disbanded on account of the withdrawal of their members. 
The presiding officer of one of the clubs said in the meeting 
just before its disorganization, "The sermon preached by Dr. 
Hill comes as a message from God that we disband our 
club." — Editor of Advertiser. 

29 



30 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

gather all the honey they can from the pleasurable 
flowers that bloom along their pathway, only leaving 
the poison behind. Their privileges are of the 
broadest latitude, covering the whole-field of pure 
intellectual, social, moral, physical, and spiritual en- 
joyments. Innocence or moderation alone bounds 
them. Gloom on the part of those professing reli- 
gion injures them and wrongs the cause nearest 
their hearts by frightening away the young with the 
idea that they must become prematurely old and 
abandon the cheerful pleasures of youth to become 
truly and sincerely religious. The natural effect of 
true religion is to cheerfulize life. This is an un- 
questionable logical conclusion; for it is a reconcil- 
iation between man and his Maker giving him as- 
surance of the sweetest and most precious comforts 
in this life and endless and unalloyed blessedness in 
that which is to come. Christ came not to bring a 
cloud but a bright sunshine to our world ; He came 
not to deepen its despair and gloom, but to disperse 
them, to give us faith and hope that should ever 
cheerfulize our pathway through the dark valley and 
shadow of death, which sooner or later all have to 
tread. God's providence, both in nature and grace, 
is always consistent with itself. A striking analogy 
runs through the two, and the former is often beau- 
tifully and impressively expository of the latter. 
Does God dress out the world in bright sunbeams, 
in flowers and robes of green in Spring, does He 
turn the forest into a grand orchestra and bid song- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 31 

sters of a thousand different tongues strike their 
Memnonian and Aeolian harps in cheerful, yea, 
hilarious praise, that a premature autumnal frost 
may fall upon the one or the silence of wintry death 
upon the other ? Can it be then that He intends that 
faith and trust in Him, so comforting and so full 
of hope, shall quench the joys of the young heart 
and drape the spring season of life in premature 
winter and gloom ? As well may we infer darkness 
to be the natural effect of light. No, my friends, no, 
God would have all His children happy. Heavenly 
hearts above all others swell with rapturous joy. 
Amusements and recreations are necessary to human 
health, happiness and life: health of the physical, 
mental, social, and moral powers of man, for all the 
powers of man are more or less reciprocally depend- 
ent on each other. Childhood must have them, 
hence its marbles, hobby horse, toy horse, and ball- 
plays. These are providentially appointed develop- 
ing agencies; manhood and womanhood are more 
fully and perfectly developed by them. No student 
of the philosophy of man's make, who deserves the 
name, and of the mutual dependency of his powers, 
will question this truth; and hence the attention 
given by our best educators to the development of 
even the physical, which are the lowest powers of 
man — old age is more mellowed, cheerfulized and 
better preserved by them. Is not the setting sun 
more lovely with gentle winds dancing on the wav- 
ing sedge, with sunbeams sporting amidst and kiss- 
3 



32 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

ing the sweet, gay flowers, and its own bright smil- 
ing face unveiled, than with nature shrouded and 
itself covered with cloud and gloom? A chord too 
continuously and tensely drawn will in the end lose 
its elasticity and snap. The existence of this neces- 
sity for amusements and recreations is of a very an- 
cient date. Nimrod recreated in hunting, and it 
came down to us through the games, races, boxings, 
plays and entertainments of the ancient Greeks and 
Romans. Indeed they felt it so strongly that they 
imagined their gods felt it, and it was woven into 
their religion, and their games were instituted in 
honor of their gods, and quite as much to entertain 
them as themselves. It cropped out in the theatri- 
cals of all ages since the days of Thespis; in the 
tournaments and troubadour entertainments of the 
Middle Ages, and is presented in your theatrical, 
base-ball, and shooting-club plays and amusements 
of today. The antiquity of this necessity certainly 
is coeval with authentic and profane history, if not 
indeed with the existence of man; for Adam and 
Eve, even while innocent, must have the pleasant 
entertainment of dressing the Garden of Eden. 
Hence we infer from its antiquity and presence in 
all succeeding ages of man's history that entertain- 
ments and recreations are not accidents or mere hu- 
man inventions, but are of Providential appoint- 
ment; and properly refined, purified, and regulated 
have high and even holy ends to attain ; and conse- 
quently we are by no means opposed to them per se. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 33 

It is said that the status of woman is the best 
criterion by which to fix the refinement and the 
moral, intellectual, social, and physical elevation of 
man, and we believe it is. In fixing her status, said 
a quaint old writer, she was not taken from his head 
to be above man and put her foot upon him; nor 
was she taken from his foot that he should be above 
her and put his foot upon her, for he degrades him- 
self when he degrades her ; but she was taken from 
his side, that she might be his equal and companion. 
Each is superior to the other, and yet they should 
meet on a happy equality. He is superior in the 
empire of mind, she in that of the heart; he should 
supply abundantly well-carbonized thought, she 
heart-oxygen, to keep the social fireside alive with 
intellectual interest and aglow with love, that life 
may be a sweet elysium of delicate sympathy, a 
blessed duality in a glorious unity. 

Next to woman, man's refinement and moral ele- 
vation may be best determined by his amusements 
and recreations — not even excepting his religious 
faith or church exercises and usage. Special re- 
straints are imposed by these both upon professors 
and non-professors : public expectation is higher, 
more vigilant and exacting, and consequently the 
individual mind is more on the alert, and decorous 
deportment with many is the result of restraining 
circumstances and a dread of public censure ; hence 
it is more artificial and deceptive. But on occasion 
of public relaxation and amusement, the mind is less 



34 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

on the alert, restraints sit more lightly upon men 
and are more slightly felt; a jolly self-forgetfulness 
is the order of the hour, and consequently a refined, 
chaste and elevated social and moral deportment is 
more apt to be the result of a habitual internal ele- 
vation of mind and purity of heart. There may be 
great intellectual power in the absence of true refine- 
ment and moral elevation. The latter are by no 
means inseparably connected with or sequents of the 
former; Greece was intellectually great to produce 
a Homer, as yet unsurpassed if equalled as an Epic 
poet, and an Aristotle, whose ipse dixit was con- 
clusive as philosophic law for more than a thousand 
years, and a Thucydides yet scarcely equalled as an 
impartial and methodical historian, and a Demos- 
thenes, whose eloquence and fiery tongue was more 
formidable to Philip than the Grecian sword. Rome 
was intellectually great to give the world a Virgil, 
unequalled in pastoral and grand in Epic poesy, a 
Cicero, still a model of calm eloquence and forcible 
oratory, and a Tacitus, too sententious to be the 
most eloquent but, according to Gibbon, the most 
philosophic of all the ancient historians. But what 
of the refinement and moral elevation of Greece and 
Rome? When we consider that their elite ladies 
and gentlemen could and did gaze without shame or 
pity upon naked racers, naked and greased wrestlers, 
fierce iron-fisted boxers and bloody gladiators, we 
wonder where their refinement could be found. 
Think of the Coliseum capable of seating ninety 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 35 

thousand and furnishing standing room for twenty 
thousand more spectators, with a place of combat 
called Arena, because deeply sanded to drink the 
blood of man and beast to be shed there for wanton, 
savage sport. Think of it densely packed with the 
noblest as well as the ignoble blood of Rome, the 
most elevated, refined and enlightened ladies and 
gentlemen of the then civilized world, who looked 
down on the surrounding nations in disdain, and 
called them barbarians. Think of them, I say, as 
eager spectators of hundreds of fierce gladiators en- 
gaged in mortal combat; so charmed that they 
would not leave their seats to dine; applauding 
bloody triumphs, and, when an unfortunate gladi- 
ator was disabled and at the feet of another crying 
for mercy, they decided for life or death by a look, 
word, or forward motion of the thumb; and when 
the gladiator was wearied with shedding the blood 
of his fellow gladiator, and public thirst was for a 
time satiated with the shedding of human blood by 
human hands, then to vary the scene and intensify 
the excitement, a ferocious beast was turned into 
the Arena, and he and the gladiator renewed the 
strife for life or death, until in the course of five 
days of bloody festival, in celebrating one of Pom- 
pey's triumphs, five hundred lions, eighteen ele- 
phants and probably ten thousand gladiators were 
slain to quench the insatiable thirst for blood of the 
elite ladies and gentlemen of Imperial and refined 
Rome. That vast Arena was literally slushed with 



36 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

the mingled blood of man and beast, and the dis- 
abled, dying, and dead were dragged out with iron 
hooks from the scene of shocking strife and piled 
to a pyramidal height in adjoining apartments ar- 
ranged for their reception. Such was the refine- 
ment and moral elevation of Rome in the Augustine 
Age. 

The theatrical amusements in the Middle Ages, 
when churches were degenerated into theaters, the 
Holy Sabbath into a day of licentious festivity, 
and priests, in holy vestment, into pantomimic actors 
and lascivious players, and the very altar of God was 
polluted and defiled with spectacular scenes of sensu- 
ality and crime as public entertainments and amuse- 
ments; the fierce, and in many cases fatal tourna- 
ments of knight errantry, when to assert that "my 
lady is fairer than yours," or deny it, was worth a 
man's life (though chivalry in some respects indi- 
cated the dawn of a brighter day), these fixed the 
refinement and moral elevation for that dreadful 
night upon the mind and heart of more than a thou- 
sand years. 

The unmentionable national amusement or sport 
of Spain has stamped her people as semi-barbarians 
for several centuries. 

And your present theatrical, base-ball, and shoot- 
ing-club plays and amusements fix your more ad- 
vanced position in true refinement and moral ele- 
vation as compared with antecedent ages. I would 
not abolish these, but I would purge them of their 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 37 

impurities, and turn them into efficient instrumen- 
talities for the development of moral, intellectual, 
social, and physical powers. I would have your 
theaters as allies, potential, beautiful, and co-operat- 
ing auxiliary powers with the pulpit. Instead of 
painting vice, as they too often do, insidiously dis- 
guised with fascinating and imaginary pleasures, 
and carrying the young mind and heart into aerial, 
impractical and dreamy worlds, resulting in dissatis- 
faction with life, in suicide, or blighted characters 
— a living death — I would have them dress virtue 
in the livery of Heaven, its rightful robe, to satirize 
and present vice in its true skeleton form — "Of such 
horrid mien that to be hated needs only to be seen." 

Your base-ball plays should be instrumentalities 
for the development of quick intellectuality, a warm 
sociality and prompt and active physical manhood. 
And your shooting-clubs I would have as schools to 
teach not only a steady nerve to hold the rifle, but 
for the great operations of life; and an accurate 
aim not only at the mark of the club, but the higher, 
grander and nobler ones — a peaceful end to this, 
and a glorious entry into another life. 

And to this end I would lop off that crying sin 
against piety, against delicate sympathy, against 
true refinement, against high moral elevation and 
finally against God's law — Pigeon Shooting. 

Let us suppose one of those little birds, so deli- 
cately modeled and exquisitely costumed by its 
Maker, gifted with language, leaving its neighbor- 



38 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

ing home, floating out upon the balmy air and sea of 
sunbeams this bright and blessed Sabbath morning, 
making its way to this sanctuary of God, lighting 
upon the ornamental railing around this desk, tak- 
ing my place and pleading with you against the 
wrongs and for the rights of himself and fellows, 
and I imagine he would address you somewhat after 
the following manner : 

"Good people of Snowdoun, ours is a very ancient 
and honorable history; it is coeval with the com- 
mencement of the post-diluvian world, and opens 
with an act of fidelity to man. Another was first 
commissioned, but he betrayed the trust, deserted 
the post of honor and duty and man burdened with 
anxiety and care. The commission was then en- 
trusted to one of our worthy ancestors, which ac- 
cepted it, entered upon its duties, plucked the olive 
leaf, and swift of wing, carried tidings of a pacified 
God to man; and hence olive became the emblem of 
peace and we the symbol of fidelity more than four 
thousand years ago. Our history is intimately asso- 
ciated with that of man in all succeeding ages of the 
world. The ancient Greeks and Romans make 
honorable mention of us. It has been our mission 
to cheerfulize and beautify the homes of man in all 
civilized countries and in every age. The variegated 
colors with which it has been the pleasure of our 
common Maker to clothe us, and the antics, which 
by instinct He has taught us, it has been our pride 
and pleasure to display and exhibit for your enter- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 39 

tainment. He has not been as lavish to us in the 
gift of songs as to many others, but what gift we 
have has been dedicated to you, and our very cooing 
is a symbol of conjugal love. When ancient Greece 
attained its highest climax of refinement in luxury, 
we were summoned to be present at its most fashion- 
able festivities, and with our wings sprinkled with 
sweet aroma, as little fairies, to scatter perfumery 
upon its assembled and joyous guests. We have 
served as mail-carriers for Egypt and Bagdad for 
a half of a century or more. And when at different 
times Haarlem, Paris and other cities were hermeti- 
cally sealed up by hostile military powers, and tele- 
graph, express, and railroads were useless things, as 
means of communication, we have braved every dan- 
ger, kept communication open, and carried messages 
of distress and hope to outside friends; and today 
we have our military barracks and are in as regular 
training as the other soldiery of one or more of the 
greatest powers of the world. When young hearts, 
all aglow with love and excited with anxiety, have 
been separated, we have been accepted as confidants 
to put them in sweet communication; and when 
have we betrayed the trust ? When Sir John Frank- 
lin went on his memorable and ill-fated polar expe- 
dition, we were summoned to accompany him. 
When in distress messages were pinned to us and all 
but two of our faithful ancestors who went with 
him perished. They reached his friends, having lost 
their feet and legs by frost; and if the messages had 



40 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

been as faithfully pinned as we carried them, we 
would have solved a mystery, without the cost of a 
cent, to explain which other lives have been sacri- 
ficed and millions of dollars have been spent in vain. 
The ablest financiers have called on us for aid. The 
Rothschilds alone owe us a debt of twenty-five mil- 
lions of dollars for services rendered during the 
wars of the First Napoleon. If we have a phil- 
osophy, in one respect it is strictly Pythagorean; 
we live on seeds and fruit alone ; we eat no flesh, so 
wrong no one, not even the humblest insect that 
crawls beneath our tiny feet. We are honored as 
the symbol of innocence, simplicity, fidelity and 
love. That stench in the nostrils of human decency 
and morality — Mormonism — is unknown among us. 
We marry for life, have only one wife, and the af- 
fections that bind us together are so ardent that they 
have grown into a proverb with you. The husband 
not only divides the fatigue and privations of incu- 
bation with the wife, but feeds her little ones when 
hatched, thus setting an example of provident care, 
delicate conjugal sympathy and parental affection, 
which, if faithfully imitated by you, would make 
your lives joyous and your homes peaceful and 
happy. No earthly creatures have equalled us in 
the services rendered to man in matters of his reli- 
gion, true and false; nor have we been equalled in 
honors. The heathen gods were never represented 
in counsel without our presence. And in yours, the 
true religion, we have the high and unequalled honor 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 41 

of having represented two of the Sacred Persons 
in the Godhead. Of all the feathered tribes of our 
world, our blood alone has been typical of that of 
the Son of God, in whom you trust for salvation. 
And when His Spirit swept the entire world for the 
most appropriate form in which to appear and tes- 
tify of that Son, as you see from the text selected 
by him who so earnestly pleads our cause with you 
today, ours was the honored form — 'And lo, the 
heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the 
Spirit of God descending like a dove (pigeon) and 
lighting upon Him.' By all these services rendered 
to man, by our innocence, by these precious mem- 
ories, by these high sacred honors, I beg, I beseech 
you that our delicate little bones may not be broken, 
our tender flesh mangled, our muscles torn to pieces, 
our nerves racked with pain, our plumage stained 
with the blood that typified that of the Son of God, 
and that form in which the Spirit of God appeared 
may not be laid cold in death, only for a wanton, 
merciless, cruel, momentary pleasure." 

And now, my brethren of Snowdoun, the curtain 
drops, our little orator is silent and is speeding his 
way back to his native neighborhood. No, no, my 
friends, I know you love good company. Let your 
sport be so innocent, so refined, so morally elevating 
that the purest and best on earth, if they pleased, 
may participate with you; and if a party of angels 
should be passing over this province of our Father's 
Kingdom and hover for a moment on wings over 



42 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

you, if it would be undignified in them to participate 
with you, let it be their privilege at least to approve, 
if not admire and applaud. 

We wish briefly to touch another subject, not ger- 
mane to the particular one of pigeon-shooting, but 
which is germane to the general subject of recre- 
ations and amusements, and we are done. I allude 
to a social game of cards. The history of a young 
man epitomized, as given by himself under the gal- 
lows, illustrates forcibly my views. Said he, sub- 
stantially, "I was blessed with one of the purest, 
best, and most pious mothers that ever lived. Let 
no one imagine from what follows that a shadow is 
thrown on her. I should add ingratitude and cruelty 
to my other sins to do so, and the thought of it 
would intensify the agony of this dreadful hour. 
No, no, if the dead are aware of what overtakes the 
living, and a sainted heart could be wrung with an- 
guish, and sainted eyes swim in tears, my dear old 
mother would be in anguish and weeping now. 
And yet as a dying warning to other mothers, I feel 
it my duty to say that I trace the disaster and ruin 
now upon me, to that dear sainted mother's indis- 
cretion. To while away an hour during the long 
winter evenings, after the duties of the day were 
over, she taught me how to play a social game of 
cards, not dreaming of harm to me; and so inno- 
cently that she often carried me from the game to 
the closet, and with me kneeling at her side, her 
tender hands resting upon my head, begged God's 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 43 

choicest blessings for me. After a while she sent 
me to college, and occasionally my finances ran low, 
and not wishing to trouble her so often, it occurred 
to me that I could turn my skill at card-playing to a 
financial account among my fellow students. I tried 
it and unfortunately, as the expression is, 'fortune 
favored' me and I won. From that time I began to 
seek gaming associates and gradually became a pro- 
fessional gambler. With all such a social drink is 
in order. From moderate drinking I became occa- 
sionally drunk, and while drunk I killed the man, 
for whose death my life is now to atone. I trace 
it all back to the social game of cards taught me by 
my precious, dear, pious and sainted, but thought- 
less mother." What a fearful ending to a slight be- 
ginning ! 

I would not have you think me an advocate of, or 
an apologist for, dancing, but, excepting waltzes, 
which I regard as a fashionable disguise for public 
hugging, if I had to choose between the two, I would 
invite a fiddler into my parlor and bid him fiddle 
and my children dance all the night through, rather 
than that they should learn and play a game of so- 
cial cards. I know that dancing is more severely 
censured, but in my humble judgment the old Vir- 
ginia reel, which holds the sexes at a respectful 
distance, is an infinitely less dangerous amusement 
and recreation than a social game of cards. 



44 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

NOTE 

The following discourse was preached, by special request, 
in the City of Montgomery, on the 25th ultimo. The views 
expressed in it met with so favorable a reception, that at 
the urgent solicitation of a number of judicious friends, who 
thought it might be productive of good, it is given to the 
public in its present form. At the time of its delivery it had 
never been written. It is now sent forth, as the dove from 
the Ark, with the olive of peace and love in its bill, and it is 
hoped may find many hospitable windows lifted to welcome 
its coming, where its author trusts it may be as instructive, 
as quiet and unobtrusive. Those who witnessed its delivery 
will doubtless observe that it has passed through a molting 
season, dropping a verbal plume here, and taking another 
there. This was unavoidable, as it was delivered extem- 
poraneously; but with slight exceptions, the ideas embodied 
are the same. 

Montgomery, February 3, 1857. 



My Dear Mother: 

This discourse is laid as an humble offering at the Saviour's 
feet. You were the kind missionary sent from heaven to 
teach the author the great truths of which it treats. The 
first object his hand was allowed to grasp was the Bible. 
Your commission has been faithfully performed. Your life 
has been the happiest exemplification of the purity of your 
precepts. The author has scarcely known whether most to 
admire the purity of the precepts, or the loveliness of their 
fruits as exemplified in your private yet profitable life. In 
prosperity it has ever been yours to manifest thankful humil- 
ity; in bereavement and adversity triumphant resignation. 
The author looks to the Cross as his own, and the hope of 
the world, and to no one can he so appropriately inscribe the 
following discourse as to you who first taught him to love it. 
If truth is unfolded in it, the credit is primarily yours. Hop- 
ing that in due season the Cross may become the crown to 
both, he is, Thankfully your son, 

The Author. 



THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 

Genesis 2:17 — "But of the tree of the knowledge of good 
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eat- 
est thereof thou shalt surely die'' 

WE cannot invite this audience to stroll with 
us in pleasing companionship this morn- 
ing, along a lawn of thought where the 
rose, the oleander, the honey-suckle and hyacinth 
unfold their beauty and exhale their fragrance upon 
our pathway. Our way leads us along rugged 
rocks, shaggy cliffs and frowning heights, flanked 
on either hand with fearful precipices of error; 
but, if we forego the pleasure of flowers, we hope 
to be entertained with the sublimity of a mountain 
landscape, as we contemplate truth lifting its huge 
sides and driving its proud peaks through the 
clouds, and hiding them in that effulgence which 
surrounds the throne of the Great Eternal. After 
we have struggled through ice and snow to Alpine 
heights, we hope, as Hannibal of old, to call you as 
way-worn soldiers around us and point out a land, 
bathed in more than the balmy air of Italy, with 
greener bowers, richer flowers, and watered with 
purer streams. This is the land of Atonement. 

Our text is the first commandment given by God 
to man, and it is a melancholy truth, that it was 



A sermon preached in the City of Montgomery, January 25, 
1857, by Luther L. Hill. 

45 



46 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

scarcely uttered ere it was violated. The subject in- 
volves intrinsic difficulty, and if we should fail to 
make all the points clear, you should not hastily re- 
ject them as against reason, though they may be 
above reason. Reason, when baffled in its efforts 
to comprehend the truths of the Bible, should turn 
its investigations into another channel and weigh 
the evidence of their Divine authenticity, and if it 
decide affirmatively, then it will be more unreason- 
able to disbelieve what God has said than to believe 
what we cannot comprehend. 

The truth is, but little is thoroughly known. All 
the different departments of science have their diffi- 
culties. The chemist, by experiment, establishes 
the fact that hydrogen is one of the most explosive 
of gases, that oxygen is the best supporter of com- 
bustion known, and that these two combined pro- 
duce the natural enemy of fire — water. Why such a 
result should follow such a combination, all the 
chemists in the world cannot explain. The natural 
philosopher analyzes a pencil of light, and exhibits 
the seven prismatic colors; but why a combination 
of all colors should produce no color, is beyond the 
research of the profoundest philosopher. The 
metaphysician informs me that my hand moves un- 
der the volition of my will, but he cannot explain 
what will essentially is, nor can he trace the connec- 
tion between it and that limb, nor show why my 
hand should move under the volition of my will any 
more than the book before me. Mathematics is, by 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 47 

way of eminence, denominated the science of dem- 
onstration; still, it is not without its difficulties. 
The mathematician will demonstrate conclusively 
that two lines may eternally approximate, and that 
it will be mathematically impossible for them to in- 
tersect, however gradual the approximation ; reason 
insists if the lines are sufficiently produced they must 
cut each other. The agriculturist casts his grain 
into the earth; under the genial and fructifying in- 
fluences of earth, air, water and sun, it vegetates, 
shoots forth a spire, then forms merithalles stored 
with saccharine juices, nodes, foliage, and is finally 
crowned with golden grain. No vegetable physiol- 
ogist that ever lived can explain the modus operandi 
by which these changes and results are accom- 
plished. If, then, there are mysteries in the lower 
sciences that relate to God's works, may we not 
reasonably anticipate them in that sublimest of all 
sciences which treats of God himself ? A degree of 
mystery connected with the Bible is rather a pre- 
sumptive evidence of its Divine authenticity than a 
suspicious circumstance against it, for it establishes 
a resemblance between the book of nature and reve- 
lation, and were all the parts of the latter levelled to 
human comprehension there would be a violent pre- 
sumption that it was the work of a finite mind. 

1. The first leading inquiry to which we address 

ourselves is the following : Did not God absolutely 

know that man would violate the prohibition of the 

text when he laid it on him, and if so why admon- 

4 



48 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

ish him? To reconcile God's foreknowledge with 
man's free-agency and consequent responsibility, 
has been a perplexing topic with theological writers. 
Dr. Adam Clarke, one of the best verbal critics who 
has ever written upon the Bible (but of whom, be 
it said, with the profoundest respect for a learned 
head and pure heart, is occasionally in error upon 
doctrinal points, and never deep in metaphysical 
reasoning), reasons thus upon it: God is omnipo- 
tent, and can do all things ; but because He can, it 
does not necessarily follow that He must do all 
things. So God is omniscient, and can know all 
things; but it does not necessarily follow that He 
must know all things. This doctrine is somewhat 
self-contradictory; for it implies He has reasons 
for not knowing the unknown facts or events. The 
Doctor does not sufficiently discriminate between 
the nature of the two. Omnipotence is a power, 
whether reposing or acting; omniscience is not a 
power, but simply a possessive or all-knowing state 
of mind. Omniscience does not imply a power to 
know, but knowledge already possessed. The Doc- 
tor's reasoning does not rise to the dignity of a 
plausible sophistry. 

Other theological writers (and the Doctor also 
favors this opinion) have maintained that God's 
foreknowledge was absolute and contingent; abso- 
lute when accompanied with a decree fixing the event 
or fact; contingent when He pleased to poise the 
event as it were, on a pivot to be turned in either 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 49 

direction by the human will; and hence man is 
held responsible for the final determination of the 
event, or fixing of the fact. To which it may be 
answered, that knowledge is, from its very nature, 
absolute and certain as far as it goes. There is no 
medium ground between absolute knowledge and 
positive ignorance, except conjecture. To suppose 
God conjecturing, is to associate with the Divine 
mind that uncertainty which perplexes the human; 
and to suppose any fact positively unknown, is to 
suppose a positive imperfection in God's knowledge, 
at least in reference to the unknown fact; and upon 
either supposition the perfection of the Divine mind 
stands disparaged. For the security of providential 
order in the universe, it must be admitted that God's 
knowledge of every event that has occurred, is oc- 
curring, or can occur, is certain and positive; for, 
if the smallest has escaped him, the greatest may; if 
a sparrow fall to the ground without His knowl- 
edge, a planet may forsake its orbit, rush on sister 
planet, world collide against world, and the uni- 
verse rush to chaotic ruin. 

We recur then to the inquiry : Did not God abso- 
lutely know that man would violate the prohibition ? 
We answer affirmatively, undoubtedly He did. But 
at this point another question is presented, which 
more vitally interests man than that relating to 
God's foreknowledge, for upon it at last hinges his 
responsibility. Was there causation in that fore- 
knowledge? It is manifest from the very inherent 



50 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

nature of knowledge there was not. To know, im- 
plies a possessive and passive state of mind, not an 
active causal one. To illustrate : I have a positive 
knowledge of the fact that those fairy little girls 
and noble little boys (gems of heaven cast into lap 
of earth) are before me, with their bright eyes, rosy 
cheeks, and smiling faces, the pleasing shadows of 
their innocent and cheerful hearts; but my knowl- 
edge exerts no constraint upon their wills to retain 
them here ; it adds not a ray of lustre to their eyes, 
nor fades or deepens the rose upon their cheeks, nor 
excites the glow of their cheerful hearts so beauti- 
fully shadowed forth in their smiles. Now, upon 
the presumption that there was a moral quality con- 
nected with their being here, it is manifest that 
would stand uneflected by my knowledge. This 
audience know absolutely the sun is near his zenith, 
and shedding his genial rays upon our landscape 
(sweet promise ere long of the balmy breath of a 
vernal morn) ; but there is no causal connection be- 
tween the knowledge of the fact and the fact itself, 
which has given a rotatory motion to the earth by 
which the sun has been brought above the line of 
the horizon, or has robed him with a surplice of 
light which so beautifully trails upon surrounding 
worlds. Thus God is cognizant of all events, past, 
present and to come, as perfectly as if it were one 
eternal now; but there is no necessitating connec- 
tion between his mere knowledge and any event, 
much less those for which He holds man responsible. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 51 

The certainty of the knowledge is one thing, that of 
the event another; the certainty of the knowledge 
may be dependent upon the certainty of the event, 
but the event is absolutely independent of the knowl- 
edge. This certitude of the knowledge is in the 
mind, that of the fact is external to it, and in the 
fact itself. 

Upon the presumption that there is necessarily a 
causal power lodged in God's foreknowledge, it is 
evident that God could not have created man, as 
represented, in His own image ; for to create a be- 
ing like Himself, freedom of will was indispensable. 
If all his actions are necessitated by foreknowledge, 
there could be no moral grandeur about him, and 
though his intellectual powers in kind might bear 
some resemblance to God, operatively they would 
as little do so as the planets that obey the forces ex- 
erted upon them : he would only act as acted upon 
by this necessitating cause. Man in ceasing to be a 
free agent must necessarily cease to be a responsible 
one, and hence all civil and moral government as it 
relates to him, falls to the ground. If his acts be 
necessitated by God's foreknowledge, it is as absurd 
to make him amenable to civil and moral law, and 
to throw him into position to be obnoxious to their 
penal sanctions, as to pass an act declaring an en- 
gine a capital offender which had crushed a man to 
death. The engine acts only as acted upon by the 
engineer ; man acts only as necessitated to do so by 
causal foreknowledge. Indeed, it would be less ab- 



52 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

surd to legislate punitively for the engine than for 
man; for in the former case the legislature would 
only become ridiculous, while the supposed criminal 
would be beyond the reach of punishment; in the 
latter, the foreknowledge of the lawgiver would 
necessitate the subject's action, and then his folly 
and injustice punish him as a sentient being for 
obeying an irresistible necessity. 

Upon the presumption of causation in foreknowl- 
edge, every fact being known, every event becomes 
necessitated, and virtue and vice are convertible 
terms, or the blasphemous absurdity is involved that 
God is the author of all evil as well as all good, 
since one of His attributes, either with or without 
His will, necessitates both virtuous and vicious ac- 
tions. 

Again: This presumption destroys the harmony 
of the attributes of the Divine mind. Suppose that 
mind to will the creation of a free-agent, and His 
omnipotence exerted to accomplish the purposes of 
His will : it is clear that His foreknowledge, if it be 
causal, (comprehending at a glance all the coming 
acts of this creature) would degenerate him into a 
mere machine driven by this great primary causal 
power; hence Omnipotence, if it willed, could not 
produce the image of God a free-agent. This pre- 
sumption involves the absurdity that a capacity or 
state of mind which from its very nature is passive, 
usurps the entire providential government of the 
universe to the exclusion of will. The Divine mind 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 53 

loses its own independency of action, for if God 
knows all things, and the knowledge causes all 
things, there is no use for a will in the Divine mind ; 
furthermore, if one is there it cannot act, being an- 
ticipated by causal foreknowledge. The universe 
ceases then to be under the government of an in- 
telligent, decreeing will, but is ruled by a sort of 
destiny in God's foreknowledge. 

But the question is sprung: Can an event be 
otherwise than as God knows it? Suppose not; if 
the necessitating cause is man's perverse will uncon- 
strained, he is as responsible for it as if it could, 
and if it had been actually unknown to the Divine 
mind. 

We are now to dispose of the last member of 
this division of our subject : If it could not be 
otherwise, why admonish man? For the very pal- 
pable reason that it is not only necessary to the 
creature's happiness that the Creator be just, but 
that he should believe and know Him to be so. 
However just God may be, if His rational creatures 
believe Him to be otherwise, they could not be 
happy under His government. Had man in igno- 
rance been allowed to blunder over the precipice of 
ruin before him, he might have fortified himself 
behind the plea of ignorance, extenuated his own 
guilt, and even impugned the justice of God: and 
not only man's confidence in God's justice been de- 
stroyed, but that of higher intelligences who may 
be cognizant of God's providential dealings with 



54 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

man; for we learn from the Scriptures that angels 
desire to look into the plan of salvation, showing 
that man's situation and God's providence regarding 
Him are not unknown to them. 

2. The second leading inquiry which demands 
our consideration is this : Could not the fall of man 
have been prevented consistently with God's justice 
and goodness, either by arresting him before the 
act, or removing the temptation? It does appear 
that infinite wisdom and goodness exhausted their 
resources in the use of preventives. All must ad- 
mit that God could select no higher model, after 
whom to construct man, than Himself. Had He 
selected the noblest archangel that adorns His 
throne, the model had been infinitely inferior to the 
one adopted ; for man in that event had been only a 
copy of a miniature copy of the great Original. It 
is an altogether reasonable inference then, that if a 
creature constructed after any model in the universe 
could have been possessed of inherent strength suffi- 
cient to resist temptation and maintain his fidelity, 
that man had been. Infinite wisdom could con- 
ceive of no more perfect a model, and infinite benev- 
olence could bestow no more than God's own like- 
ness. We conclude, then, that if any creature en- 
dowed with freedom of will, because of the strength 
of his inherent structure had been adequate to main- 
tain his integrity, man had not fallen. But in addi- 
tion to this, God gave him the most fearful admoni- 
tion which language could express. "In the day 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 55 

that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The 
language is unequivocal : shalt, surely, die. There 
is no evasion of the consequences; the result is in- 
evitable if the act be perpetrated : death, utter aban- 
donment, desolation, ruin. Whether Adam knew 
the literal purport of the word death (as yet not 
having witnessed the ravages of sin) is problemati- 
cal ; but he knew that something fearful and dread- 
ful was to follow. 

Having exhausted these means of prevention, we 
can conceive of no other but his arrest, the practi- 
cability of which we now proceed to examine. To 
create man after God's own likeness, it was indis- 
pensably necessary to bestow upon him freedom of 
will. As before remarked, he could not be a minia- 
ture likeness of God's moral nature and grandeur 
without it, and however stupendous the intellectual 
powers with which God might have endowed him, in 
their operation, they had been as little like God as a 
system of planets only acting as acted upon and 
governed by fixed and necessitating laws. It was 
with God to create or not create a creature bearing 
His own image ; infinite wisdom conceived the plan, 
and decided it was best to do so; infinite benevo- 
lence bestowed the image, and we apprehend could 
do no more, and infinite power executed the work — 
man, or God's image, was the result. Immediately 
upon the production of this wonderful creature, an 
implied contract sprang up between him and his 
Creator. This compact was the result of the rela- 



56 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

tion they sustained to each other, and had its foun- 
dation in one of the attributes of the Divine Mind — 
justice. The compact was this : so long as man 
maintained his innocence, so long he had a right to 
expect, yea, even claim, the providence and pro- 
tection of his God. He was not to sustain detri- 
ment or degradation, either directly or indirectly, 
from his Maker. Now had God arrested him, the 
freedom of his will had been destroyed and the 
crowning feature of resemblance to his God effaced, 
and he had been degraded into a mere piece of ma- 
chinery, while his integrity had been preserved. 
While man was yet innocent, God had blotted his 
image out; and man, we contend, by the preserva- 
tion of his innocence at such an expense, had been 
more degraded than he is now with all the calami- 
ties of the fall upon him. Man as he now stands 
with the freedom of his will preserved (though in 
other respects the image of his God is marred), 
with every nerve liable to become the seat of pain, 
his heart wrung with anguish, the dark waves of 
death dashing around his feet, and the grave yawn- 
ing to receive him, is a nobler being than he had 
been with his innocence preserved at such a sacri- 
fice. It is by no means clear then that God's justice 
and goodness had been vindicated by man's arrest. 

But if there was no remedy by arresting him, 
could not the temptation have been removed from 
him ? Suppose it could, had it been best ? For this 
is the great fundamental principle upon which God's 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 57 

moral government proceeds. We think not, for the 
following reason : Man was created after the like- 
ness of his God, and consequently his existence and 
conduct must necessarily have reference to moral 
law. The action of the Divine Mind has no rela- 
tion to law, because there is none higher to prescribe 
it to him; but his acts and providence relate to 
moral fitness and proprieties, and his intellectual are 
perfectly balanced by his moral attributes; and we 
had almost ventured the opinion that the perfect 
felicitation of the Divine Mind was secured by this 
perfect and eternal balance. The conduct of man, 
bearing as he does the likeness of God, must neces- 
sarily relate to law; his nature and his happiness 
both demand this. It is manifest, then, that had 
not this test been laid upon him in the inception of 
his existence, that other temptations had been ap- 
pealing to his will all through it, and the probabili- 
ties are that at some time or other he had yielded 
and fallen. Had he been allowed to multiply his 
species before this test was laid upon him, each indi- 
vidual offender must have been exterminated, given 
up to hopeless reprobacy, or a special atonement 
provided for him and plans of redemption multi- 
plied. Whereas, by laying this test upon Adam as 
a public person or federal head, the provision of 
one plan and one atonement meets the necessities of 
a whole race. 

We are informed of the creation of but two 
species of rational creatures — man and angels 



58 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

(devils are fallen angels) — and it is a melancholy 
fact that their history scarcely acquaints us with 
their creation, when the fall of both is announced; 
from which the inference appears legitimate that no 
creature endowed with freedom of will (however 
stupendous his parts) can safely rely upon the 
strength of his moral structure to resist temptation. 
And if we get to heaven and stand (and stand we 
will), it will not be because of constraint of will, or 
constitutional moral strength, but because of the 
force of virtuous habits, our observation upon, and 
experience of, the dreadful consequences of sin, and 
other favorable circumstances with which God will 
be pleased to surround and fortify us. 

3. We have now reached the third grand division 
of our subject. It has been rather impiously asked : 
Had it not been best to have exterminated the race 
in Adam, since so much vice and suffering are in 
consequence of the fall? Our answer is negative, 
for had it been best, that plan had been adopted. 
The reply is petitio principii. Hear us through. 
If God had exterminated the race in Adam, all the 
happiness of the virtuous and vicious, both in this 
life, and that of the former in the life to come, had 
been lost — or, rather, never been; and the wicked 
had only exchanged a state of positive suffering for 
one of nonentity, or rather no state at all. Now 
upon the presumption that this had been best for the 
wicked, it certainly could not have been for the 
virtuous. God, in that event, had rewarded vice 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 59 

foreknown, at the expense of virtue foreknown. 
Besides, were the option given to any man, however 
wicked, of going into nonentity immediately, or 
take the chances for a future state of happiness or 
misery, no one would accept it as a refuge. The 
plan of redemption covers the case of all; all may 
be saved, if some will not; it was not best in conse- 
quence that all should be annihilated. 

Again : It is the glory of God to be revealed and 
known to His creatures. It is not by any means 
clear that even His justice could have been revealed 
to man had he maintained his primeval purity; for 
its offices are to discriminate between right and 
wrong, to approve and reward the one, to condemn 
and punish the other. It is quite certain that His 
mercy could never have been revealed, as its office 
is clemency to those who have laid themselves liable 
to the penal sanctions of law and justice. Hence 
God had allowed a glorious opportunity of mani- 
festing His unrevealed moral perfections to His 
creatures to pass, and that too, when their necessi- 
ties were such that they could only be saved by the 
supervention of boundless mercy. Had He exter- 
minated man, hell had achieved a triumph and been 
resonant with exultation, while heaven, perhaps, had 
been shocked with apprehension. The arch-enemy 
of mankind had been exultant in man's ruin, the 
plan of conspiracy had been too deep and blighting 
for even the resources of infinite goodness, wisdom 



60 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

and power to provide a remedy, and the great provi- 
dential end of man's creation defeated. 

'The tendency of this policy had been to persuade 
other and higher intelligences that the resources of 
the Divine Mind could not be implicitly relied on 
for security, and their confidence being the founda- 
tion of their happiness, happiness with them had 
been unsettled if not utterly dethroned and de- 
stroyed. Thus a trinity of causes appealed to the 
Divine Mind for a remedy. God's image — man in 
ruins — appealed to its great loving original; the 
necessities of God's moral government called for it, 
and the glory of the Divine Mind demanded it; that 
hell might be disconcerted, and heaven resound with 
the proclamation : "Blessing, and honour, and glory, 
and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the lamb, for ever and ever." Rev., 5 ch., 
13 verse. 

4. But says an objector, you have been labor- 
ing to explain what I deny to be a fact, viz: 
That man is a fallen creature. This objection, it is 
manifest, strikes at the foundation of the whole 
Christian system. For if man is not a sinner, he 
has no need of a Saviour; if he is not in the bond- 
age t>f sin, he needs no redemption from it. We 
have two questions to propound to our objecting 
friend. First : Do you admit the existence of a 
God? Secondly: Is He just? I see that friend 
stretch forth his hand and answer: Sir, that hand 
is a sufficient evidence of a God. Chance could 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 61 

never have woven that tissue of nerves I find there, 
webbed and lashed those bones together with muscu- 
lar fibres and tendinous cordage, articulated and so 
admirably adapted bone to bone, caused arterial and 
veinous ducts to meander through all its parts, along 
which a vitalizing fluid flows, coupled with it sensa- 
tion, and located it so admirably and judiciously at 
the extremity of my arm for purposes of defense 
and use. Without looking farther into my wonder- 
fully complicated, yet wisely arranged structure, or 
dwelling upon the wonders of vision, I see too much 
of design in that limb alone, not reverentially to ad- 
mit a designer. And more : I see around me works 
which no power, short of Omnipotence, could per- 
form, designs which only Omniscience could con- 
ceive, and that the great end of both is benevolence, 
though from some mysterious cause it is more or 
less checkered with suffering. I find also a sense 
of justice in me which must have had a Creator — 
from all of which I not only infer and admit there 
is a God, but also that He is just. Our objector is 
no carping Zoilus, but a noble man, an honest in- 
quirer after truth. 

The foregoing premises being granted, we ask no 
more. If then God be just, and man innocent, why 
is his first returning breath, as he enters into life, a 
sigh, and the first language of his tongue a shriek, 
as if of horror at entering a sin-cursed world. The 
mother, too, if crowned with maternal honors, 
perils life, and wades through a sea of anguish to 



62 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

win and wear her laurels. "I will greatly multiply 
thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou 
shalt bring forth children." Gen. 3:16. Why is 
he condemned by his necessities to become a beast 
of burden ? The demands of a frail and perishing 
body appeal hourly to his head and hands for sup- 
plies ; time strips his back and makes him a tatter- 
demalion, and starvation threatens continually to in- 
vade and upset the throne of life. As an honest 
laborer he is ruled to the cutler's stone, where life is 
brevified until a short, but if possible, a merry life, 
has become his motto; or driven, as the collier, 
into subterranean caverns, where the gloom of per- 
petual night is around him, there, amid inhospitable 
damps and mephitic air to wear out a life of servile 
bondage; or, if he demand service of the bones, 
muscles and sinews of a lower animal, he becomes 
the servant of his own beast ; he must labor to make 
his food, supply his manger, curry his skin, shoe his 
feet, and perhaps the ungrateful brute repays the 
debt by burying his hoof in his owner's brains. "In 
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Gen. 
3:19. 

As a criminal, the galley-slave is nailed to the ves- 
sel's deck, there to ply his oar under a torrid scorch- 
ing sun, or freezing from the hyperborean blast ; or 
housed in the penitentiary, where he must drive the 
pump or drown; or as a capital offender, like 
Haman, swings betwixt earth and heaven, is guillo- 
tined, or made the subject of the executioner's axe. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 63 

"The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and 
desperately wicked : who can know it ?" Jer. 17:9. 
If God be just and man innocent, why are the 
most delicate and sacred relationships of life hourly 
broken? Death wantonly invades the domestic 
sanctuary, nor respects the tenderest ties. Man 
rises at the opening of a new-born day, with an 
angel of light and love at his side; he goes forth to 
perform its labors and discharge its duties with her 
blessing upon him, and her prayer rising as incense 
to heaven that God's providence and protection may 
be over him. At evening, as he returns from his 
daily toils, that angel, ever vigilant for his safety 
and coming, strolls out upon his pathway to receive 
him to her bosom, press him to her heart, thank God 
for his safe return, and as a body guard dispatched 
from heaven to escort and welcome him to a happy 
home and cheerful fireside. As a fruitful vine, she 
has festooned that fireside with immortal flowers. 
They are one, not in the cold formal sense of law, 
but one in essential being — they look out of the same 
eyes, they smile in the same faces, they are cheerful, 
and I had like to have added, innocent in the same 
hearts ; their very being is blended in their children, 
they are a unit with multiplied immortality. (Here, 
then, affection is fanned into the intensest blaze. 
The vine is not only wound around the bosom of 
man, and has not only wreathed his brow with a 
thousand hopes of coming happiness, and fastened 
its tendrils upon his heart, but it is essentially a part 
5 



64 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

of him. Alas! death touches the flowers, they fall; 
the canker-worm feeds upon the vitals of the vine, 
it withers, dies and trails upon the earth at his feet ; 
his home is in desolation, and his heart in ruins. 
"Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the 
world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon 
all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5 : 12. 

The very elements around man are treacherous 
to him : the balmy zephyr of evening, as it kisses his 
cheek, Judas-like, breathes death to his nostrils ; the 
water that slakes his thirst, or morsel of bread that 
sustains his perishing body, is charged with death; 
the lightnings drink his blood; the very earth is 
seized with convulsions, heaves, yawns, while cities 
are entombed, and hundreds of thousands of our 
race perish beneath their ruins. Behold ! yon beau- 
tiful scene : those plains carpeted with more than 
Brussels skill, or waving with golden grain; that 
mountain, zoned with garlands of vine and grape — 
here and there beneath its bowers a lovely villa, or 
a smiling village. The evening winds bring to our 
ears the merry ditty from the lips of a happy 
yeomanry as they return homeward from the fields 
of their daily toil ; it is answered back by the hearty 
halloo of sportive village boys and girls, whose lives 
have never been saddened with a care. The evening 
wanes; the crepuscular light fades away along the 
western horizon ; star after star drops the veil from 
its lovely face, and opens its bright eyes to look 
upon the happy scene beneath — man sleeping with- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 65 

out a care upon his heart. A spasm seizes upon the 
bowels of the mountain — its sides swell and surge — 
a column dark as ebony rises from its summit, set- 
tles along the horizon and canopies the heavens, 
shutting out the last lingering ray of sun, moon and 
star: fit prelude to the coming tragedy; another 
spasm, and the darkness is rendered still more ter- 
rific by a blazing shower of volcanic meteors. 
Egyptian darkness sits again enthroned upon the 
mountain top; again a lurid glare flashes through 
the dreadful gloom; a final spasm — out rushes a 
storm of cinder, followed by a river of liquid fire, 
sweeping down the mountain side, lifting upon its 
bosom forests and vineyards, and drowning with its 
terrific thunders the groans, shrieks and screams of 
men, women and children, as they sink into a fiery 
grave. Herculaneum and Stabise swim in a sea of 
fire, and Pompeii is buried beneath a mountain of 
cinder. Can God be just, and man innocent, with 
such providences as these around and upon him? 
What more could He inflict upon the vilest crim- 
inal? There is a beautiful and impressive moral in 
that ancient myth of Atlas, with a world upon his 
back. The thoughtful mind in it sees our race 
symbolized with its world of suffering, sorrows, dis- 
appointments and bereavements upon it. Ah! my 
friends, Heaven has made the proclamation, and 
man in his experience, and earth in its providences 
echoes it back — man is a sinner. This branch of 
the subject is now dismissed, only adding, if an ob- 



66 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

jector can reconcile God's justice with man's inno- 
cence and experience he is more than mortal. 

5. We now proceed to inquire : What is meant 
by death in the text? "In the day that thou 
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Premising 
that the ablest Hebrew philologists among whom 
Richard Watson and Dr. Adam Clarke may be cited 
as authority, inform us that in Gen. 2 : 7, where the 
ordinary or King James' version reads : "Breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life," the literal and 
correct translation is : "Breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of lives," which at least implies a duality of 
life. Temporal death assuredly is not the meaning. 
It is simply a consequence of the death alluded to, 
and by eating, man was made liable to it, not the 
immediate subject of it. If it only were meant, the 
Scriptures were falsified, for man did not die tem- 
porally the day he ate, but lived to multiply his 
species. Nor is the difficulty relieved by the reason- 
ing of those who maintain that he does literally die 
daily; that in life he is a subject of chemical de- 
composition, which is counteracted by a law of vital 
recomposition, and that the only difference between 
a living and dead state is, in the first, both recompo- 
sition and decomposition are going on ; in the last, 
only the latter with accelerated velocity. The fall 
it is manifest has wrought no physiological change 
in man in this respect, for antecedent to it he was 
an eating creature. "Of every tree of the garden 
thou mayest freely eat," Gen. 2 : 16, which was, of 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 67 

course, not for the mere gratification of taste, but to 
supply the waste going on in his system ; the differ- 
ence consisted in this, while innocent, God would see 
to it that he should not perish for the want of sup- 
plies. God's providence abounds with instances 
where the pleasurable and the useful are combined, 
but we doubt whether the universe affords an in- 
stance when the former stands alone, as it would do 
upon the supposition that man, antecedent to the 
fall, ate only for the gratification of taste. 

Spiritual death is unquestionably meant. Spirit- 
ual life is defined, the Spirit of God in the soul of 
man; death then is its withdrawment, in conse- 
quence of which the balance between man's moral, 
intellectual and animal nature was destroyed, and 
man's passions and appetites ran wild for the want 
of a regulator — transgressing their legitimate limits, 
thus doing violence to his own happiness. He was 
utterly forsaken and dead. At this point many run 
into dangerous error and maintain that new and 
wicked elements and passions become incorporated 
or infused in him. Man's situation was that of 
"depravation by deprivation/' If he is a creature 
in the aggregate, he is in his parts; if then there is 
an original inherent wicked element or constituency 
in his make, it must have had a creator. It cannot 
be accounted for by supposing that God's with- 
drawal of His Spirit would produce it; for that 
would be to suppose that a negation could produce 
a positive existent something — which is absurd. If 



68 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

it be attributed to the devil, it is clear that a being 
of competent power to create a new, though wicked, 
element or constituency of man's moral or intel- 
lectual nature, could create with equal ease, matter; 
and as Omnipotence only can do either, that would 
be to make the devil equal with God, and man, not 
God's creature exclusively, but His conjointly with 
the devil. To suppose, finally, God to be its author, 
is too preposterous for us to offer a refutation. We 
infer then, that at the fall no new and wicked ele- 
ment or constituency entered into man's make, but 
the old ones transgressed their legitimate limits. 
We venture the assertion that there is not an ele- 
ment or constituency in him that is not infinitely 
valuable to him. If any element or constituency, 
physical, intellectual or moral, were annihilated, he 
would cease to be a perfect man. 

That this is the scriptural view of man's fall is 
apparent from the literal and scriptural definition 
of sin. The term sin is literally defined by the 
ablest verbal critics, "to miss the mark." It is fig- 
urative, taken from an archer who lets fly an arrow 
that misses its aim. Man's faculties and powers, 
by the privation of God's spirit, miss their aim or 
mark. The Apostle Paul defines sin to be: the 
transgression of the law, the walking beyond the 
legitimate limit ; but not the creation or infusion of 
any new and wicked element, passion or constitu- 
ency in him. All vice, then, we conclude, is the re- 
sult of the action of infinitely valuable endowments 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 69 

or powers misdirected, prostituted, and perverted. 
Adam was wholly abandoned by his God; dead be- 
cause God's Spirit, the fountain of spiritual life, 
was withdrawn. And more : being a public person, 
the federal head of the race, not only his blood, but 
that of all coming posterity became attainted by his 
treason; for he could only transmit to others the 
heritage he had himself, which was nothing but sin 
and its dreadful consequences — spiritual and tem- 
poral death. 

The atonement was no after-thought. At this 
dreadful juncture it met him with its life-restoring 
power, as the apostle expresses it : "Theref ore, as 
by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men 
to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of 
one, the free gift came upon all men unto justifica- 
tion of life." Rom. 5 : 18. But, says an objector, 
I can see a sort of natural fitness in Adam's pos- 
terity suffering because of his transgression. This 
principle has been recognized in civil law, and is 
manifested in God's providential government; the 
diseases of parents are occasionally transmitted to 
their posterity, a,nd their improvidency frequently 
visits destitution and want upon children. But the 
moral or legal fitness of substituting the sufferings 
of one man to expiate the guilt of another, or a race, 
is by no means clear. The object of punishment is 
not, as was erroneously contended by Byron, and 
many others, always to reform the subject of it : a 
man is not hanged for his own reformation. The 



70 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

primary object of penal enactment is to inspire re- 
spect for law, to maintain the dignity of govern- 
ment, and to intimidate evil doers. There is a beau- 
tiful illustration in profane history of the idea we 
wish to convey here. A celebrated Locrian law- 
giver enacted a law punishing a certain offence with 
the loss of sight. The law was scarcely enacted 
when his own son was detected in its violation and 
the proof made conclusive. The lawgiver, judge 
and father all met in the same person. The justice 
of the judge and the sternness of law demanded the 
son's eyes, while a father's love plead that they 
might be spared. Justice was uncompromising in 
its demands, love was equally importunate in its 
entreaties, and finally the noble father satisfied the 
demands of justice by striking out one of his son's 
eyes and one of his own. The primary end of law 
was as well, yea better accomplished by this sacri- 
fice than if his son had been condemned to eternal 
night: the dignity of government better main- 
tained, and evil doers more effectually rebuked than 
if the demands of law had been literally complied 
with. So in the atonement of Christ; the demands 
of justice are fully satisfied, and the end of law 
perfectly attained. The dignity of God's moral 
government was maintained, and the "exceeding 
sinfulness of sin" impressed upon its subjects. 

6. We have now reached the sixth and final 
division of our subject, and are to inquire how 
Adam's posterity stand affected by his transgres- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 71 

sion. By the atonement of Christ the spirit of God 
was restored to the heart of man, and he revivified 
or quickened, and to this extent the Spirit acts upon 
every man's heart. "The free gift came upon all 
men unto justification of life." Adults as well as 
infants receive largely of its benefits without their 
asking, and frequently without their knowledge. 
The multiplied blessings of life, the admonitions of 
parents, the good example of others, the light of 
the Bible, the preaching of the Gospel, the chidings 
of conscience, and above all the wooing influences 
of God's Spirit, are all instances of its beneficent 
effects. And if any fail of final salvation it will not 
be because they were not comprehended in the plan, 
but because of their rejection of it. The freedom 
of the will is in every case respected and preserved; 
when man reaches years of accountability the lan- 
guage of God is : "In me is thy help." Hos. 13 : 9. 
He demands a hearty concurrence of the will, and 
He will afford the means, having already provided 
the way. 

We are now to consider the case of infants, and 
dismiss the subject. If all adults do not receive 
the full benefit of the atonement, it is because some 
reject it. The case of infants is different in this: 
they not having reached years of sufficient discre- 
tion to make an election to receive or reject the plan, 
God does not require of them an acceptance of it, 
and for the same reason they are not competent to 
reject it, and it is by rejecting it adults lose its bene- 



72 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

fits. The violent and irresistible presumption then, 
I had almost added absolute certainty, is, that all 
infants who die in infancy are saved. The case of 
idiots is a parallel one. 

We have now, my hearers, reached that land to 
which we alluded in the prelude of this discourse. 
The land of atonement — where a sun more genial 
than that of Italy shines, where every bower is 
laden with richest blessings, every shrub is gar- 
landed with more than golden promises, and every 
valley watered with rivers of everlasting life. Here 
I bid you enter and plant, and as you plant, com- 
mence the harvest which is to end; did I say end? 
(this is a word not known in Heaven) end of what? 
end of being, end of glory, end of happiness, end of 
progress? No, no end: but which is to continue 
while God's eternal throne endures. Now I take 
leave of you. And, oh ! blessed Saviour, I come to 
the cross, inviting all my adult fellow beings to ac- 
company me, for this is the commission Thou gav- 
est me : "Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature." Mark 16: 15. I come, 
bring in my arms all the little children and seat 
them before Thee to receive Thy blessing, and hear 
Thee say as of old, "Of such is the kingdom of 
heaven." Finally, I humbly lay the labors of this 
day at Thy feet, and cast myself upon them, be- 
seeching Thee to accept and sanctify all to the honor 
and glory of Thine own name. 



PART II 
ADDRESSES 




V; . :;.utj 



'i;n ' c" ~ ' 



LOTT 



The Children of L. L. Hil 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Franklin Literary 
Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

WHEN first honored with the invitation to 
be with you this evening, I was under the 
impression that my duty was of a general 
character, to address the students of the Academy, 
and prepared for its discharge accordingly; but on 
the 15th inst. I learned that it was specially to ad- 
dress your Society, and must therefore beg your 
most charitable judgment upon its crudeness and 
imperfections. As your Society is christened the 
Franklin Society, I have assumed that it is named 
for Dr. Benjamin Franklin, equally illustrious as 
a patriot, statesman and philosopher, and have made 
him the subject of our present reflections; but 
whether right or wrong in the assumption, I know 
of no subject which could be more appropriate, en- 
tertaining and instructive for an address of this 
kind. 

He, Franklin, was born January 17, 1706, and 
died April 17, 1790, and was therefore 84 years old 
at his death. Like Lincoln, Johnson, Garfield and 
many others, who have attained the highest dis- 
tinction, he was not born in the lap of luxury nor a 
favored child of fortune in early life. He was the 



Delivered in 1889. 

75 



76 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

fifteenth of a family of seventeen children and the 
son of a soap boiler and tallow candlemaker, and 
may be, won his first distinction clipping candle- 
wicks. But as in the case of Sir Isaac Newton, 
watching sheep, it was soon discovered that his 
heart was not in the business of soap-boiling and 
candle-making, and he was apprenticed to his 
brother to learn the art of printing. 

A refugee from fraternal tyranny, we next find 
him a friendless wanderer in the city of New York, 
seeking business, but in vain ; thence as a pedestrian 
he journeyed to Philadelphia, the scene of his future 
triumphs and success. But how did he enter it? 
Not as Pompey entered Rome after the victories of 
the Mithradatic War, nor as Caesar with a Roman 
Senate at his heels, but a poor homeless boy, with 
his wardrobe crammed into his pockets, with a loaf 
of baker's bread under one arm, while he voraci- 
ously devoured another, and the lordly owner of 
one dollar, the sum total of his worldly possessions. 
While strolling along the street thus equipped, it is 
said, he first saw the girl who was to be his future 
wife and talked with her, or her mother. But 
young gentlemen, I warn you not to be carried away 
by enthusiasm, don't emulate his example in this 
love adventure; don't venture the first impression, 
which is said to be the lasting one, under such un- 
favorable auspices. It is true that his after-triumph 
was complete, but where there is one success, I am 
told, there are a thousand failures. He soon se- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 77 

cured employment as a printer on the proverbial 
maxim, "Seest thou a man diligent in his business — 
he shall stand before kings"; which he quotes as 
applicable to himself when he as an ambassador 
stood before kings. 

He soon attracted public attention, and especially 
that of Sir William Keith, the Governor, who made 
him many business propositions and flattering prom- 
ises, and induced him to visit London to buy type 
to set up a mammoth printing establishment in 
Philadelphia, promising to forward the necessary 
funds, but failing to do anything and left Franklin 
an abandoned waif on the vast sea of foreign hu- 
manity. This was his first distressing, but most 
useful lesson in the school of human treachery in 
high places ; and Sir William, by coupling his name 
with Franklin's, won an infamous immortality like 
that of Herostratus, who did so by burning the 
Temple of Diana at Ephesus. 

Franklin did not weakly despair. Multiplied and 
apparently insuperable difficulties only stimulated 
and aroused the latent and dormant energy reposing 
within him, and eventually developed a grand and 
imposing manhood, which is a matter of national 
pride with us today, and of a peculiar individual 
pride to the members of the Franklin Literary So- 
ciety; and which, like the sun mantled in its own 
transcendent glory, sheds its reflected light on two 
continents. 



78 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

After two years of unavoidable detention in Lon- 
don, he returned to Philadelphia, and there in good 
earnest began his grand and triumphant march on- 
ward and upward to the attainment of imperishable 
honors. Endowed by nature with gigantic intel- 
lectual powers, with a taste for reading, with a quick 
and nicely discriminating perception, with a well- 
balanced judgment, with energy and perseverance 
which knew no exhaustion, and having been se- 
verely disciplined in the school of poverty and ad- 
versity, which had taught him the necessity of fru- 
gality : All of the elements of success were present 
in his case. It is therefore not a matter of surprise 
that he quickly took position at the head of 
the Philadelphia press, and became a felt power 
throughout the length and breadth of the land; and 
so influential at Philadelphia that when a local en- 
terprise for its advancement, was projected, the 
first inquiry was, has Franklin been consulted? 
What does he think of it? And his ipse dixit was 
accepted as almost infallible. 

Even to enumerate his useful works, or the 
honors which successively wreathed his brow, in a 
brief address of this kind, is impossible. We can 
only cite a few to illustrate the many. He founded 
the University of Pennsylvania, the American 
Philosophic Society, and was a leading factor in 
establishing the Pennsylvania Hospital, and his 
practical aphorisms, in Poor Richard's Almanac, 
are second only to Solomon's Proverbs. But what 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 79 

of his honors? For ten successive years he was 
an honored and influential member of the As- 
sembly of Pennsylvania. As agent, he at one time 
represented the Provinces of Massachusetts, Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland and Georgia, in England. But 
a few years later he appeared in London not as the 
representative of provinces, but as the representa- 
tive of America, and as such was called to the bar 
of the House of Commons, and catechised as to the 
affairs and feelings of America, and displayed such 
a breadth of information, such a familiarity with all 
points involved, and so much tact and wisdom, that 
Lord Chatham remarked that Parliament in ques- 
tioning Franklin reminded him of a parcel of school 
boys catechising a profoundly learned professor, 
and his examination resulted in the repeal of the 
Stamp Act. This occurred about thirty-nine years 
after Franklin first arrived in London, regarded as 
a destitute and deluded maniac. Ten years later in 
debate, Chatham characterized him as "one whom 
all Europe held in high esteem for his knowledge 
and wisdom, who was an honor not to the English 
nation only, but to human nature." His name is 
affixed to the Declaration of Independence; to the 
treaty of peace with England in connection with 
those of Adams, Jay and Lawrence, and he was a 
member of the convention which framed the Consti- 
tution of the United States. Among other literary 
honors while in Europe, he was elected a member of 
the Royal Society and honored with the degree of 
6 



80 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

Doctor of Laws by the Universities of St. Andrews, 
Edinburgh and Oxford. When all other means 
failed in his negotiations with England in behalf of 
the Colonies, the power of the British gold was tried 
upon him, but he was found incorruptible. 

The Franklin stove and lightning rod are monu- 
ments to his scientific powers, for it was he who 
first bridled the lightning and led it down from the 
heavens with a kite string : and his logic in refuta- 
tion of Newton's theory of light from the sun by 
pulsations was irresistible, maintaining as he did 
that if light was material, however infinitesimally 
small might be the particles, if they were driven 
through space with a velocity between ninety and 
ninety-five millions of miles in eight and one-half 
minutes, they must put every one's eyes out, and in- 
stead of giving, must destroy vision. 

His impromptu powers were striking. Being in 
company with several ambassadors, it was proposed 
to toast the heads of their government. One used 
the sun as typical of his monarch, another the moon, 
and Franklin compared the President to Joshua, 
who commanded the sun to stand still and he 
obeyed. On another occasion the wisdom of popu- 
lar suffrage was being discussed with some Royal- 
ists ; they took the ground that ignorance and vice 
dominated the masses, and intelligence and virtue 
was confined to the few, and therefore suffrage 
should be restricted to them; the vote was taken 
and every one except Franklin voted affirmatively ; 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 81 

he arose and voted, No ! and added, "if virtue and 
intelligence are confined to minorities, the question 
is carried triumphantly in my favor, for I am 
greatly in the minority." 

A pleasant anecdote is told of him and his mother 
in which they were at issue upon a question in in- 
stinctive emotional science. He admitted natural 
affection, but denied that the mother knew her own 
offspring instinctively from others, and insisted that 
the knowledge was acquired. His mother vehe- 
mently maintained that she instinctively knew hers. 
After he had been absent for some years, subsequent 
to this conversation, without previous notice he 
turned up at his mother's house and asked to be al- 
lowed to spend the night ; at first he was told that 
she did not entertain strangers, but that he could be 
entertained a few hundred yards further on. He 
replied that he was very tired and hoped she would 
allow him to stay, and that he lived in Philadelphia, 
and after a long absence was going home, and had 
walked very hard that day, and was tired. His 
mother asked, "Did you say you lived in Philadel- 
phia?" "Yes," he replied. Said she, "I have a son 
named Ben Franklin living there, have you ever 
heard of him?" "Yes," he replied, "I roomed with 
him." "Come in," said his mother with a hearty 
shake of the hand. She then asked a thousand and 
one questions about Bennie. She could not do 
enough for him. About bed time he asked her if 
she would know Bennie if she were to see him. 



82 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

"Know him! yes, if I saw him in China." "Well," 
said Franklin, "look at me good." She thought he 
was jesting with her; looked at both sides and front 
and exclaimed, "Why, yes, this is my Bennie," and 
embraced him with hugs and kisses. 

Franklin had a keen sense of humor. He tells 
many amusing anecdotes on the Quakers, one of 
which I will briefly relate, and cease to trespass 
further upon your patience : Said he, they were a 
very patriotic people, but were committed reli- 
giously to peace under all circumstances. During 
the Revolutionary War there was a want of funds 
to buy powder, and they were called on to contribute, 
which they were anxious to do, but their religion 
pledged them to neither fight nor to furnish others 
the means with which to fight. They called a very 
large meeting and great gloom was upon it. Their 
country called for powder or the means of getting 
it, and their religion forbade their furnishing the 
means for others to kill each other. Patriotism 
plead on the one side and religious scruples remon- 
strated on the other; finally, said Franklin, one 
good old patriotic Quaker solved the problem and 
brought general relief to all. Said he, "We can vote 
so much to buy grain, and if they buy grains of 
powder instead of grains of wheat, oats and so 
forth, that is their business and not ours." 

In conclusion, Mr. President and Gentlemen of 
the Franklin Literary Society, ladies and gentlemen, 
let us learn from our subject: First, never to de- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 83 

spair; second, to be incorruptible; third, that pa- 
triotism is one of the noblest of virtues; fourth, 
perseverance, prudence and economy are invincible 
and will win success. I thank you for your patience 
and attention. 



EDUCATION 

Young Gentlemen: 

THE subject which commands out attention 
today is one of ample and comprehensive 
purport, one which has, from age to age, 
employed the pens of the ablest statesmen, most sci- 
entific philosophers, erudite divines and poets, and 
is still a maze so profound as to be unfathomed, a 
field so unlimited as not to be explored. Educa- 
tion is still a problem; the multiplicity of opinions 
entertained relative thereto by citizens of different 
nations, the vast diversity existing among those 
united in the same civil fraternity, enjoying the same 
advantages, and the tragic individual and national 
results of perverted education, corroborate the ac- 
curacy of this opinion in a manner which I deem 
irrefragable. What then is education? To define 
the term is a matter readily effected, but to delineate 
the idea involves a greater difficulty. The term edu- 
cation (as all of you are aware who are acquainted 
with the Latin classics) is from e and duco, com- 
pounded educo, to lead from — but what is it that is 
led, when, and where ? This definition is capacious, 
and embraces man physically, intellectually and 
morally. 

To the perspicacious and reflecting mind, the 
analogy existing between man's intellectual and 

Delivered in 1852. 

84 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 85 

moral dependency upon external circumstances and 
objects, and that of his physical, is palpably ob- 
vious and impressively striking. Man, in his in- 
fantile state, is composed of mere susceptibilities, 
which, if not surrounded by requisite external cir- 
cumstances, are doomed prematurely to languish 
and expire. The physical constitution of man in in- 
fancy is perfect in its parts, though not mature in 
its powers, and requires extraneous matter upon 
which to subsist, which, if not administered to 
elicit the functional action of the system, or if in- 
salutary, it never expands into the ample power of 
manhood, or attains to that degree of beauteous 
symmetry which inspires the poet's muse or excites 
the minstrel's lyre. So with the intellectual and 
moral endowments; we are equally dependent for 
ideas and emotions upon things external of our- 
selves, without which the intellectual faculties would 
sleep in perpetual torpidity, and our emotional na- 
tures remain perennially dormant ; and as the physi- 
cal constitution of man sustains decided detriment 
by the injudicious administration of vitiated diet, 
so the intellect is retarded in its gigantic strides to 
scientific attainment and moral perfection by the 
contemplation of subjects beneath the dignity of 
mind which tend to its debasement and the prostra- 
tion of ethics. The mind must have noble aspira- 
tions or it can never attain to eminence. 

Were the avenues, which a merciful, wise 
and benevolent Providence has bestowed on man, 



86 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

through which he is connected with the external 
world, locked up in infancy, he would be consigned 
at once to perpetual solitudinarianism amid the 
busy bustle of earth, the warm affection of friends 
and the devoted attachment of relatives; and that 
immortal spark which might dilate into the gigantic 
magnitude of a Newtonian intellect; comprehend- 
ing, at a glance, the entire field of science (so far 
as explored) and making still more ample excur- 
sions into the field of intellectual disquisition — that 
mind, I say, which might shine in the literary and 
moral galaxy with the vivid blaze of the meridian 
sun, would emit but the indistinct light of the glow- 
worm. Education commences then at the time the 
sensual bestowments are made ; it commences in the 
cradle; in the arms of the parent. The first lullaby 
that is chanted to the infantile ear by the melodious 
voice of the parental tongue, the first object of vivid 
hues presented to the vision by the munificent hand 
of the devoted parent, and the first smile that adorns 
the parental cheek indicative of her love, which, if 
reciprocated, enraptures the parental heart, is but 
the incipiency of education. 

Little do parents reflect, that while obeying this 
instinctive impulse they are commencing a system 
of education which is to advance through time, yea, 
eternity; and how little do many of them consider 
the vast responsibility devolving upon them ! Wise 
and kind was the Providence which assigned the 
superintending of helpless infancy to hearts so sym- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 87 

pathetic, to hearts so divinely inspired. A little 
neglect at such an epoch might extinguish life; but 
was the kind parental heart ever known to be re- 
miss ? When the powers of man sufficiently expand 
a sense of danger is sufficiently impressed upon the 
mind, the capacity for intellectual acquisition is en- 
larged, and the domestic relations are such as not to 
afford adequate educational facilities, it then be- 
comes necessary to substitute in the parent's stead a 
preceptor of competent powers and moral sensibil- 
ity, who can more exclusively devote himself to the 
educational province. 

The duty devolving on preceptors is, as far as 
practicable to cherish the tender sensibilities of pa- 
rental regard, and to transfer parental love to their 
own bosoms. Their policy should be affectionate 
and lenient, yet stern and decided. The student, 
on the other hand, should not (as is too frequently 
the case) contemplate his preceptor as a tyrannical 
oppressor, but as a foster parent; and in the retro- 
spective of life, should render to him a degree of 
gratitude second to none save that to God and natu- 
ral parents. 

Young gentlemen, the object of education is, or 
should be, threefold: First, to promote the happi- 
ness of the individual educated; secondly, to ad- 
vance the felicity of society ; and, thirdly, the glory 
of God. This fact should be indelibly inculcated 
upon your minds, and should exert a determining 
influence over you in your educational pursuits. 



88 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

The interrogatory should be propounded by every 
student to himself, whether or not this threefold 
end, so vitally important, is subserved by the course 
adopted; reason should act the intellectual bar- 
rister, reveal all appurtenant circumstances to the 
eye of judgment which should ponder them impas- 
sionately and maturely, and if the decision should 
be negative, relinquish without hesitancy your at- 
tachment, abandon the enterprise, and adopt a 
course more congenial with the object which educa- 
tion has in contemplation. 

The happiness of individuals, society, and the 
glory of God are by no means incompatible ; but the 
contrary impression is a prolific source of conten- 
tion and unhappiness from whence originates that 
morbid selfishness which renders the mind self- 
corrosive, which saps the foundation of social con- 
fidence, which, like the mighty volcano, explodes, 
disgorging its liquid candent lava, which, in the 
form of war, desolates whole countries, demolishes 
magnificent cities, and exterminates whole nations. 
It may be observed no such danger is to be appre- 
hended from you; this may not be correct; the 
same might have been surmised of Napoleon Bona- 
parte while an obscure Corsican student. Suppose 
to cherish this principle is to experience perpetual 
turmoil, which, like the Alpine avalanche, descends 
with resistless impetuosity, demolishing every ob- 
stacle to its progress, and blighting the supposed 
scenery arrayed in nature's richest attire, laying the 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 89 

whole, once so beautiful, in one extended scene of 
chaotic ruins. Such is the mind, naturally power- 
ful and scientifically cultivated, under the influence 
of morbid selfishness. 

Self-interest, the welfare of society, and the glory 
of God, are indissolubly connected; and that pur- 
suit which promotes the one, must inevitably be con- 
sistent with the other two; for a wise Providence 
has connected them together by cinctures too tenaci- 
ous for the perversity of man to sever, and he who 
is sufficiently rash to attempt so herculean a labor 
as to defy Omnipotence, must fall the deplorable 
victim of his own perverted ambition. This being 
a truth sufficiently obvious for all readily to em- 
brace, it necessarily follows that intellectual and 
moral culture should advance pari passu; the 
former without the latter is dangerous, the latter 
cannot be attained without the former, for the 
moral sentiment must be addressed through the in- 
tellect. 

I am not to be understood as insinuating that high 
literary attainments are indispensable to moral cul- 
ture, but that a degree of intelligence must be pos- 
sessed before the moral powers can be stimulated 
into their legitimate action. That intellectual cul- 
ture, independent of morals, is pernicious and ruin- 
ous in its tendency, is demonstrated by reason and 
experimental observation. Oh, my friends! how 
numerous are the tragic scenes recorded on the 
bloody page of history as a consequence of this 



90 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

truth — scenes too appalling to enumerate — scenes 
too revolting for a moment to be tolerated by this 
refined and enlightened audience — in fact, a high 
degree of national (there may be individual excep- 
tions) intellectual culture is not attainable unaccom- 
panied by moral, and just in proportion to the 
elevation and accuracy of the moral tone of society 
will be its intellectual advancement. 

For a moment pause and take a panoramic survey 
of the present national constellation, and is not this 
truth prominently developed? What is the intel- 
lectual condition of China, Hindustan, Persia, 
Turkey, Russia, and I may add Spain; how strik- 
ing the contrast between them and Holland, Ger- 
many, Great Britain, and the United States — "the 
fairest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.' ' 
It may be objected that France, during the intellec- 
tual eminence and glory of Voltaire, Rousseau, Vol- 
ney, Danton, and others, was an exception to this 
truth declared universal. But in such a decision I 
cannot acquiesce. Prior to their appearance on the 
political arena France enjoyed a degree of moral 
and religious tone, which, like a potent fulcrum, 
braced up her institutions, under the genial guard- 
ianship of which they were fostered; but as soon as 
they wielded the national destiny demolished her 
moral and religious institutions, personified reason 
into a female, and rendered to her the adoration due 
to the living God; behold! a nation rushing into 
chaos like one of the blazing planets of the celestial 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 91 

vault, forsaking its peculiar orbit, flying off ungov- 
erned in the voids of space, colliding with its sister 
planets and spreading ruin throughout the solar sys- 
tem. So with France, collision after collision with 
sister nations occurred in speedy succession. 
Europe was converted into an extended battlefield, 
became one continued scene of carnage, was par- 
tially inundated with infatuated blood. "Quos 
Deus vult perdere prius dement at." 

But it has been asserted that intellectual cultiva- 
tion independent of moral, is pernicious and ruinous 
in its tendency; and that it was demonstrable by 
reason and experimental observation. Intellectual 
culture imparts influence — "knowledge is power"; 
and power is dangerous, unrestrained, wherever 
found. Nor is Deity Himself an exception to this 
declaration; for His Omnipotence is governed by 
His moral attributes. A gigantic mind, cultivated 
to the highest degree, will command the deference, 
and, to a very great extent, the confidence of those 
of inferior ability; and if connected with a nefari- 
ous heart will render its advantages and ingenuity 
subservient to its vitiated appetites, and will infuse 
deadly poison into the moral vitality of society, or 
exhale, like the basilisk, a pestilential breath, which 
shall be productive of moral death abroad, throw 
society into anarchy and confusion ; and the apology 
of the more obscure offender is, the Court, my Lord, 
or the King, has been my example. How numerous 
are the humiliating instances that substantiate this 



92 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

truth. Courts have been defiled, society envenomed 
and nations debased by the example of a ruling, yet 
abandoned monarch ; while, on the other hand, with 
transport I proclaim it, similar talents and advan- 
tages, connected with moral culture, have elevated 
courts, society and nations from this extremity of 
moral degradation to an exalted pinnacle of moral 
excellency, which conmmanded the admiration of 
every virtuous heart, and extorted deference from 
the most vile and profligate. 

The evidence of the danger of intellectual culture, 
independent of moral by experimental observation, 
has been already anticipated, and France, as a most 
prominent instance, cited. 

Young gentlemen, the ultimate object of every 
effort of man throughout the multiplied and varied 
vocations of life is happiness, and the greatest pro- 
motive of it is, an abiding sense of love entertained 
by our fellowmen relative to ourselves. This is a 
wise enactment of Providence. With the moral 
and religious enjoyments He has connected an ex- 
quisiteness and delicacy of happiness which do not 
characterize those that are purely sensual or intel- 
lectual. God designed man for society, as his very 
constitution demonstrates; and though His provi- 
dence has rendered man dependent on man, yet it 
was requisite that the law of necessity alone should 
not bind them together; but that a chain more en- 
dearing and celestial in its nature should attract 
heart to heart, and thereby impart a zest to social 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 93 

intercourse which an obedience to the arbitrary law 
of necessity alone could not produce. This attrac- 
tion is love, and to cherish it is absolutely essential 
to social happiness. There is nothing more delight- 
ful than a sense of being loved. How forlorn and 
unenviable would be the condition of an individual 
who was an object of universal detestation, he 
would languish under the guilty remorse of a lacer- 
ating conscience and expire. Universal hatred, the 
most callous cannot endure; for spirit must com- 
mingle with spirit, and a more revolting condition 
is not conceivable than that of total isolation. The 
converse of this is, the more extensively we are be- 
loved the greater the amount of happiness — a con- 
clusion which I deem unquestionably correct, be- 
cause none can be thus regarded without moral 
worth which quiets the conscience and realizes the 
sweet serenity of a placid and reconciled God. 

Are you in pursuit of happiness? Be advised 
then, and with equal assiduity cultivate the moral 
with the intellectual powers. A gigantic intellect 
may command the admiration but not the affection. 
With Silliman and others you may comprehend the 
mysteries of geology; with Hutton or Werner you 
may speculate relative to atmospheric and meteoric 
phenomena with unparalleled lucidity ; like Newton, 
with a Cyclopian arm, you may arrest the planets 
in their revolutions, cast them in balances, ponder 
them, measure their respective dimensions and 
distances; with Franklin, you may ride the vivid 



94 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

lightning ; with Dick, you ply from planet to planet, 
sun to sun, star to star, with the rapidity of thought, 
transforming the fleetest comets into magnificent 
chariots upon which to ride triumphantly through- 
out the voids of space, surveying the stupendous 
grandeur of the Great Creator's works, and yet not 
be lovely. Your powers are admirable, but not 
lovely; the Upas and Viper are admirable and yet 
by no means lovely. Unite with these powers moral 
purity, then are you like God, and ' 'altogether 
lovely" ; this is the grand educational arcanum, not 
only to lead from but to lead up to God. 

Education is an assimilation to Deity, which 
terminates not with scholastic training, nor in time, 
but is to be protracted throughout eternity; for 
man being finite may advance towards the perfec- 
tion of Deity eternally and never attain to it. How 
absurd it is to suppose, with some, that education is 
consummated at the expiration of scholastic tute- 
lage; at school man is in infancy, and is learning 
to walk alone ; how preposterous it would be for a 
child, the moment it acquired the ability to walk, 
voluntarily to desist — equally absurd is it to sup- 
pose that educational training is consummated when 
the academic term is over. Those who arrive at 
an opposite conclusion must resign themselves to 
perpetual obscurity, and expect to be in the literary 
world like the indistinct scintillations produced by 
colliding flint and steel compared to the vivid radi- 
ancy of the vertical noonday sun. Vast is the con- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 95 

trast, young gentlemen, can you bear it ? No ! "be 
a man, and strive to be a God." 

Some practical suggestions may be anticipated 
ere we conclude. Entire seclusion from society is 
neither promotive of education, nor is it desirable; 
but tends to the subversion of the very end which it 
has in contemplation, viz : social happiness, and 
frequently results tragically to the deluded student. 
Your minds should be vigilantly observant. Galileo 
invented the pendulum by the accidental oscillation 
of a chandelier; the telescope was discovered by a 
casualty; and the sublime system of a revolving 
universe was established by the fall of an apple. 
Never contrast yourselves with inferiors, but su- 
periors, and seek your associates among the latter; 
and never depart from an inflexible adherence to 
your integrity, by so doing you inspire the confi- 
dence of friends and silence foes. 

A philosopher of antiquity was once asked, what 
was gained by equivocation. He replied, "incredul- 
ity when truth is spoken." Such a course, connected 
with spiritual training, will record your names high 
up in the archives of your country, and inscribe 
them unerasably in the Lamb's Book of Life; and 
if prosecuted, the time approaches with electric- 
speed of light, of thought, when the manacles o£ 
carnality shall be stricken off; your powers ampli- 
fied into angelic magnitude; and on the downy 
pinions of seraphs you shall wing your way to the 
refulgent throne of the Great Eternal. 
7 



THE WILL 

MY theme is "The Will." No subject except 
God Himself, its source and author, is or 
can be a grander one for contemplation; 
for unless we believe the absurdity that the universe 
is a creature of chance, it must be the effect of will. 
It is not the primal motive power of mind, but 
the executive. The motive stands back of the exec- 
utive. In God the motive is love; in man it is 
sometimes love and sometimes its opposite; but in 
both God and man the executive is always will. The 
memory sums up facts, the reason analyzes, com- 
pares and infers, the judgment decides, and the will 
executes. Such is a complete and deliberate mental 
action to an end. 

Will is not only the executive power of mind, but 
the great driving power of the universe. It drives 
it not only as one grand complete whole, but in de- 
tail. It moves an atom as surely as it moves a 
world, and it dresses the lily of the field in white 
and beauty as certainly as it does the moon in her 
silvery mantle, or the sun in his robe of golden 
glory. It is consequently an all-pervasive, present, 
acting power wherever being exists ; and the recog- 
nition of the great truth, which is simply the 
recognition of a Providence, underlies all intelligent 

Delivered in 1878. 

96 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 97 

religious worship, and makes prayer a sensible exer- 
cise and an available power. The universe being 
the effect of will, is dependent upon it for its con- 
tinued organization and existence, and the Source 
and Maker of will is represented as "upholding all 
things by the word of His power." 

Will not only stamps complexion upon character, 
but is its most unerring and satisfactory index, 
even more so than acts which are the real warp and 
woof of outward character. The true, essential and 
responsible character is in the will. Acts may be 
accidental or forced, and hence present a false out- 
ward character. The judgment of man (because of 
his ignorance) is necessarily based upon outward, 
that of God upon inward character, and hence the 
former may be erroneous, the latter never can be. 
We assume then, as an unquestionable truth, that to 
know perfectly the will of any intelligent being is 
to possess a perfect knowledge of that being's true, 
essential and responsible character. It is always in 
the will and it may or may not be faithfully re- 
flected in outward acts. 

The true position of the human will, as assigned 
it both by reason and revelation, is one of hearty 
co-operation with that of God. Reason teaches that 
a creature is necessarily a dependent being, and that 
an attempt at independent action is defiant and 
therefore unavoidably disastrous; and this is the 
primal source of all of man's misfortunes, it lifted 
the lid of Pandora's box in Eden. It is by co- 



98 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

operating with the law of nature that we live; that 
is, by unity of will, of purpose, of work, of end be- 
tween man and his Maker, that he secures the bread 
necessary to support life; and it may be stated as 
a rule, without exception, all other things being 
equal, that in proportion to the heartiness of the co- 
operation is the richness and abundance of the re- 
ward in the harvest. If I correctly apprehend the 
theory of Christianity, with all the omnipotent 
energy it claims to be reposing in it, and ever ready 
for action, that energy will not move, and it is ut- 
terly powerless to save a single soul without the co- 
operation of the will of man. Perverseness, or even 
inertness, of will produces starvation, nakedness, 
and death, both in nature and grace. 

A heroic will is a powerful panoply of protection 
amid the perils of life. On the battlefield more 
timid soldiers fall dodging bullets than brave ones 
facing them; flight almost always precipitates and 
magnifies slaughter. A strong will often quaran- 
tines the citadel of life more effectually against 
pestilence, disease, and death than the ordinances of 
mayors, the proclamations of governors or presi- 
dents, or the edicts of kings, and there is more of 
safety in it than in walls of wood, brick, or stone, 
and when the citadel is actually invaded, it is chief 
on the surgeon's and medical staff, and second in 
its sanative effect neither to the scalpel nor any 
therapeutic agencies. Let the will break down and 
surrender, and hope flies, and despair, like a raven- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 99 

ous vulture, tears out the vitals, and the citadel of 
life is carried and death is triumphant. Napoleon, 
with an invincible will standing guard by the citadel 
of life, passed with impunity through a Syrian 
plague, while thousands of others of feebler will 
were falling about him. 

The magnifying and diminishing power of will is 
truly wonderful. A widow's will magnifies two 
mites into millions of value, and fills the world with 
her charitable and worthy renown. The will of the 
rich man shrinks his millions into less than two 
mites, and gives him a world-wide niggardly dis- 
tinction. 

The moral power of will is even more wonderful 
than its magnifying and diminishing power. It 
plucks out criminality from a bad act, and steeps a 
good one in the deepest dye of infamy. A benighted 
South Sea Islander slays his decrepit mother to re- 
lieve her of the malady and suffering of old age, and 
believes that he is discharging his last and highest 
filial duty, while she, equally benighted, as she falls 
under his unnatural blows, invokes special blessings 
upon him as her most dutiful child. The deed is 
horrible, yet he has committed no crime ; his head, 
not his heart erred; his dreadful ignorance is his 
misfortune, not his crime. 

On the other hand, a great gift may become a 
base, disastrous charity — the culminating crime of 
life — the final effort to bribe God and purchase 
heaven. If Christianity be true, and I have no 



100 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

doubt of it, the keys of the kingdom of heaven are 
suspended from the girdle of the will of man. 

Who can measure the energy of will? Who can 
count its victories ? Who can anticipate its achieve- 
ments ? It pierces mountains, tunnels rivers, plows 
oceans, rides storms, enslaves lightning. It strikes 
the earth with its trident and it empties its treasures 
at its feet; and then, mounting on wings and as- 
cending in its flight, it catches in its magic fingers 
the descending sunbeam, shakes out of it a beautiful 
rainbow and pins it to the bosom of the passing 
cloud; still upward in its flight, ranging through 
boundless starry fields, until wingweary it returns 
to the earth and proclaims the sublime truth that the 
millions of worlds, suns and systems, seen and un- 
seen, dance their ample reels around one great cen- 
tral throne, in obedience to one great controlling 
will : 

"Forever singing as they shine, 
The hand that made us is Divine." 

Success in life depends infinitely more upon a 
strong, persevering will than upon talent, fortune 
or favorable circumstances. What is talent without 
it? It is like the coruscation of a vivid but transient 
flash of lightning; it dazzles only to make the dark- 
ness that follows more felt. With a persevering 
will it glows, burns and blazes like the steady light 
of the noonday sun. Of what avail are fortunes 
and favorable circumstances without it? At most 
they only furnish a comfortable hive for drones. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 101 

Will is a creative power, and favorable circum- 
stances are largely its creatures. It is also a meta- 
morphosing power, and under its magic touch ad- 
versity is often made the great opportunity of life. 

Finally, for what are these groves, these walks 
and halls consecrated? For what does our Alma 
Mater call us daily around her lap to receive lessons 
of instruction? Upon what objective point is she 
moving? What grand consummation does she con- 
template ? Is it that memory may simply be a store- 
house filled to repletion with scientific treasure ? Is 
it that we may learn to reason logically, to think 
deeply, to imagine grandly, and contrive ingen- 
iously? No, these are means to the end. The will 
is the great pivot upon which destiny turns. It is to 
tame it, to put it under intelligent guide, to har- 
monize it with its Maker, and to energize it with a 
high and holy motive power. This done and her 
children's highest happiness is secured — they are 
upon the broadest and grandest arena of usefulness 
and gloriously fulfilling the end for which they were 
created. 



PART III 
PAPERS 



WAS NOT THE BEST POSSIBLE MODEL 
ADOPTED IN THE CREATION OF MAN? 

WE think that we have shown that the crea- 
tion of rational creatures was a necessity 
of God's essential being. We now main- 
tain that God could not conceive, His wisdom could 
not approve, and His benevolence could not bestow, 
a higher model than the one adopted in the creation 
of man. "Let us make man in our image, after our 
likeness." Gen. 1 : 26. Had He adopted as the 
model the noblest archangel, it would have been in- 
finitely inferior, for in that event man had only been 
a miniature of a little miniature of the Great Origi- 
nal; but God's love bestowed the loftiest possible 
honor by making him in His image, after His like- 
ness, intellectually, morally, socially, in innocence, 
holiness, immortality, dominion and freedom of 
will. The image must have had all the features of 
God, or the Bible is not His word, or He is not the 
God of truth, and He failed as a perfect artist, for 
He revised His work, and pronounced it very good. 
Gen. 1:31. What? A very good likeness of Him- 
self, which could not be true if any feature was 
wanting; there could be no variation in kind, only 
a difference in degree, otherwise the likeness was 
imperfect, and God erred in pronouncing it "very 
good." What follows? Man is a miniature of 

105 



106 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

divinity, a sort of circumscribed divinity, a being 
possessed of all the divine attributes, developed to 
that degree that makes him a perfect man — at- 
tributes extended to divinity constitute the God- 
head. Away with the idea of some visionary writ- 
ers, that man after death is to be the recipient of 
some new attributes; that his Maker is to supple- 
ment His work. Can a perfect image of God be 
supplemented without detracting from its original 
perfection? The facilities for expansion and de- 
velopment will doubtless be infinitely enhanced, but 
man's future acquisitions will be the result of 
growth — not a supplemental creation. It is true 
redemption added another feature of resemblance. 
When God clothed Himself with flesh and blood, 
man physically was like his God, but this was not 
an essential, but an incidental, feature of resem- 
blance. What a wonderful being man was by crea- 
tion, and what a wonderful thing he may be by 
redemption! Wonderful in divine endowment — 
differing by creation, and to differ by grace from 
his Maker only in degree. Wonderful in the man- 
ner of announcing His creation — "Let us make 
man," the masterpiece of God's mundane creation 
— the effect of a sort of divine council. Wonderful 
in the effect, for His creation inscribed in blazing 
characters all over the world his Maker's wisdom, 
goodness, benevolence and love. We then conclude 
God could not conceive, His wisdom could not ap- 
prove, and His benevolence and love could not be- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 107 

stow a higher or more perfect model than the one 
adopted in the creation of man, and that it was as 
worthy of God as complimentary to man. 

HOW DID SIN PRODUCE DEATH? 

As man's creation was a necessity of God's love ; 
as his fall could not be prevented either by inherent 
strength in the model after which he was made, or 
the use of any means subsequent to his creation con- 
sistent with God's honor and man's free agency and 
highest interest, and as it would not have been best 
to annihilate the race to save those who would be 
lost, from hell, and thereby shut out those who 
would be saved, from heaven, and as the atonement 
was provided, the next question to which we shall 
address ourselves in this discussion is : How did sin 
produce death? 

Adam was under the law of restraint. The Jews 
were under the law of ceremonial works, with faith 
underlying it. The Christian is relieved of cere- 
monial law, and is under the law of faith alone. 
The moral law has no penalties for him. In Christ 
he is justified, and a just law cannot punish one who 
in its eye is justified. There is no law of works to 
the Christian. Works are inseparable effects of the 
law of faith — the external evidence of its sover- 
eignty. 

What is law? It is "a rule of action." This defi- 
nition applies to all law, human and divine. What 
is divine law, as applied to human conduct? It is 



108 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

the will of God ''commanding what is right, and 
prohibiting what is wrong." 

What is sin? It is the transgression of the law. 
1 John 3 : 4. Trans and gradior, to walk over or 
beyond God's will. What was the effect ? The fol- 
lowing: "By one man sin entered into the world, 
and death by sin ; so death passed upon all men, for 
that all have sinned." Rom. 5 : 12. Death, then, is 
the effect of sin, and sin was introduced into the 
world by man. God had nothing to do with it. The 
text just quoted puts the whole responsibility upon 
man, and exonerates God. But how did sin pro- 
duce death? The will that made him was the will 
that restrained him; its action in the first instance 
was to give life, and its object in the latter was to 
protect it. When he violated that will he was in 
conflict with the law of his life; when he trans- 
gressed he walked over outside of it, and by conse- 
quence must die. When man was created he was 
endowed with duality of life. "God breathed into 
his nostrils the breath of lives," Gen. 2 : 7, not 
"life," as our version has it. He was respited for 
a time from physical death ; otherwise the race had 
been extinct, the diabolical conspiracy had been tri- 
umphant, God's plans defeated, and the triumph of 
His mercy and grace in Christ had never been wit- 
nessed. 

Spiritually, he died instantly, and the text, "In 
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
die," Gen. 2:17, was literally fulfilled. By the 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 109 

death of the soul in Scriptural contemplation, its 
extinction is not meant, but the loss of its peace 
and happiness, which was immediately the case with 
Adam, "For," said he, "I was afraid, and hid my- 
self." Gen. 3:10. What is spiritual life? It is 
an effect inseparable from the presence of the Spirit 
of God in the soul of man. When he sinned, the 
Spirit was instantly withdrawn, and death necessar- 
ily followed, for its presence was life. He died 
then because he lost the principle of life — he died of 
deprivation, not depravation. The latter is the ef- 
fect, the former is the cause. This view honors 
God, the other dishonors Him; for if man died of 
depravation, and God infused it into him, he became 
the author of positive evil, and as God threatened 
the penalty, and he died, the conclusion is irresist- 
ible : He must have been the deviser of the means of 
his death. "Thou shalt surely die," which pledges 
the means to assure the end. Nor is the effect, tre- 
mendous as it is, too great to be attributed to what 
may (by a sort of paradox) be called a negative 
cause, for we see the absence of the principle of life 
in physical death is immediately followed by great 
changes in the condition of the body. All func- 
tional action is at once arrested, and rapid disorgan- 
ization follows, both resulting from the absence of a 
principle, a power, a something so subtle within it- 
self and in its mode of acting as to be intangible by 
the nicest and most persevering scrutiny. Thus, 
the life principle, prompting, restraining and pre- 



110 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

serving, being withdrawn, inherent, distinctive 
agencies wake up as from sleep, or rather valuable 
agencies, unbridled, run wild, and rapid derange- 
ment and disorganization follow. Why, then, may 
not rapid and ruinous moral derangement and dis- 
organization follow in the soul of man when the 
principle of life is withdrawn from it, and the effect 
be as natural in the one as the other instance. Wat- 
son's Theological Institutes, Vol. 2, p. 179. This 
view glorifies the holiness of God. His Spirit could 
not commune with a sinful soul. He withdrew, and 
with Him went the principle of life, as naturally as 
light with the sun. It died. Thus sin produced 
death by deprivation, not depravation, and the op- 
portunity and necessity of the atonement was pre- 
sented. 

God was not taken by surprise. The atonement 
of Christ had long since been provided to meet this 
very emergency. A shock of amazement, if not 
terror, ran through the pure intelligences of the uni- 
verse, for silence reigned in Heaven for a time. At 
this critical juncture the plan of atonement was de- 
veloped and brought its relief to man, respiting for 
a time physical death, promising a glorious resurrec- 
tion, and restoring by faith spiritual life. It gave 
angels an additional reason why, if possible, they 
should tune their harps to a higher key of praise 
and thanksgiving to God. Another perfection of 
God, doubtless new to them, was now revealed. 
They long before had been the witnesses and recipi- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 1 1 1 

ents of His boundless love and benevolence, but 
mercy could only be exercised towards the guilty. 
If it be possible for one perfection to be more lovely 
than another, here then was evolved the loveliest 
jewel in all the mine of divine perfections. A new 
life and a bright and blessed hope gushed up amid 
the very ruins of despair and death. Christ atones 
for the past and becomes sponsor for the future. 

HOW DOES THE DEATH OF CHRIST GIVE 
LIFE? 

The question is asked : Where is the moral and 
legal fitness in the suffering and death of one man 
atoning for the sins of another ? We are introduced 
to no new principle in this; it is one of every day 
practice. Suppose a man hopelessly in debt, who 
has a sympathizing millionaire friend, and the debt 
is hopeless of payment, because the debtor is hope- 
lessly disabled; now suppose the millionaire friend 
liquidates all past dues and becomes sponsor, and 
actually deposits in bank ample funds to cover all 
future shortcomings, with only one simple and easy 
condition to be complied with ; should not the credit 
of the debtor in that case be better than if he had 
never failed, particularly if his millionaire friend 
should afford him the benefit of his constant com- 
panionship, counsel and aid? In this instance the 
combined resources, prudence, skill and energy of 
both in hearty co-operation become the guarantee of 
the future. 
8 



1 12 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

But, it is objected, the money of one man may- 
pay the debt of another, and there is a visible fitness 
in that, but the moral and legal fitness of the suffer- 
ing and death of one man, atoning for the sins of 
another, is by no means so clear. Well, let us see a 
little farther. What is the object of punishment? 
Its primary object is to preserve the majesty and 
prevent the violation of law. Its secondary object 
is to reform the offender. This is true of all law, 
human and divine, to a certain point, where the 
former is humane and wise. But, that point reached, 
the law loses sight of the secondary or reformatory 
object, and addresses itself exclusively to the at- 
tainment of the primary object — the preservation of 
its majesty and the prevention of crime. An of- 
fender is put in the penitentiary for both objects — 
to reform him, as the word implies, and prevent 
crime; but a murderer is hanged to preserve the 
majesty of law and prevent crime alone. 

But what is the effect of punishment, and how does 
it atone for the violation of law, even when inflicted 
upon the offender himself? If the penalty for a 
given offense is a pecuniary fine, and a man violates 
the law and pays the fine, that does not repair the 
broken law, nor does it make him a good citizen. 
The law is still broken and its end defeated, for its 
object was not to take money from the offender, but 
to prevent the offense. Blackstone's Comm., Vol. 1, 
Book 1, p. 39, note. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 113 

If a man commits murder, and not only expresses 
it but, if possible, actually feels willing to die for it, 
and is hanged, the slain man is still dead; if a hus- 
band and father, his wife is still a widow, and his 
children orphans, and the body politic short of a 
citizen, and the object of the law defeated, and the 
law itself is forever broken. The suffering of the 
offender is, in fact, not only an inadequate atone- 
ment or reparation, but no atonement or reparation 
at all for the offense. It is only another unhappy, 
painful, yet necessary incident added to it. The 
punishment inflicted upon him has no effect what- 
ever upon his act or its consequences, and its only 
object is to intimidate other evil doers — to affect the 
acts of others, not his, and his willingness to die, if 
he feel and express it, in so far as it removes the 
terrifying effects of the punishment from the minds 
of other evil doers and thereby encourages them, is 
rather an aggravation than a mitigation of the 
crime. 

If, then, the primary object of punishment is to 
preserve the majesty of law and prevent crime, and 
the suffering of the offender in person is no atone- 
ment for or reparation of the broken law, and we 
can show that voluntary vicarious sufferings will 
more effectually secure the end of law than those of 
the offender himself, every thoughtful, candid man 
must admit a greater moral and legal fitness in the 
former than the latter. I say moral, for certainly 
the saving of life has a moral as well as legal fitness 



1 14 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

in it, and to this end profane history affords a beau- 
tiful and impressive illustration of the power of 
voluntary vicarious suffering. 

Zaleucus, an ancient L,ocrian law-giver, enacted a 
law that any man who should commit a certain 
crime should lose both eyes. His son was detected 
in committing it, arrested and arraigned. Zaleucus 
was both law-maker and the judge. The proof was 
made clear of his son's guilt. The stern demand of 
the law-giver and judge was that the offender 
should lose his eyes, and the majesty and efficacy of 
the law be maintained. The pleading of the father 
was, spare, oh, spare the eyes of my dear, precious 
but unfortunate son. The plea offered no extenu- 
ation of the guilt; it was the simple but affecting 
plea of a tender father's love for mercy. A sympa- 
thetic populace also clamored for the son's pardon. 
Still the judge could not and would not compromise 
the majesty of the law nor "impair its efficiency. 
The father could not and would not consent to the 
blindness of his precious child. What was to be 
done in this tremendous struggle between justice, 
love and mercy in the same heart? Thank God, 
love and mercy prevailed, and justice compromised 
nothing. Said the pitying father to the unyielding 
judge, "Take one of my eyes and one of my son's 
eyes." It was done, and it is a remarkable histori- 
cal fact that crime was never known to be com- 
mitted again among that people so long as Zaleucus 
was the judge. In this instance, evil doers were 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 115 

more severely rebuked, the majesty of the law more 
grandly maintained, and its end, the prevention of 
crime, infinitely better secured, than if the unfortu- 
nate, offending son had been condemned to eternal 
night, and Zaleucus himself, the law-giver and 
judge, was and is covered all over with imperishable 
glory. How infinitely more so, then, in the case 
of the Son of God condescending to suffer and die 
for sinful man. He paid the debt in innocent hu- 
man blood, infused with divine merit, a debt which 
guilty blood could never pay. Mercy wins a double 
and most glorious victory. One man dies once for 
all; millions on millions are redeemed; justice 
compromises nothing, for the end of law is more 
completely attained than if every individual sinner 
died; and God's mercy and justice, harmonized in 
the justification and salvation of the sinner, dazzle 
heaven and earth with ineffable, divine glory. 

The object of justice is the attainment of the ends 
of the law, and that the end of law in the prevention 
of crime is better attained is universally admitted. 
If not, why is it that impenitent sinners continue to 
sin in defiance of the penalty of death awaiting 
them, and if one professing Christ offends against 
the law, he is more severely censured than others, 
both by good and bad ? Undoubtedly, it is because 
he is thought to be under greater obligation to keep 
it, and as a rule he does it, or in the lapse of nearly 
nineteen centuries' experience would have demon- 
strated it was folly to expect it, and long since the 



116 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

delusion would have passed away, and he would 
have ceased to be an object of censure, if not of 
scorn and derision, for offending against it, more 
than others. 

Since then, as we have shown, the death of the 
sinner against law is, in fact, no atonement and no 
reparation of the broken law; but the law is forever 
broken, after it as before, and it is only another un- 
fortunate, painful, yet necessary, incident added to 
it, and by the voluntary vicarious sufferings of 
Christ the majesty of law is better maintained, its 
ends better secured, and the law-giver infinitely 
more glorified than He would be by the death of 
each individual sinner, God's perfections pledged 
Him to the plan adopted. Indeed, instead of being 
a God of infinite mercy and love, He must have 
been implacable, vengeful, and pleasurably affected 
by the misfortunes, suffering and death of His crea- 
tures to have done otherwise. Hence the truth is 
palpable to human reason, that the death of Christ, 
tendered by the sinner in lieu of his own, gives life, 
because in it justice and mercy both attain perfectly 
their ends, achieve a common and most glorious 
victory over sin, and unite in the demand that the 
Spirit be restored, which as naturally imparts life 
to the soul of man as the sun imparts light and 
warmth to the otherwise dark, dead and frozen 
world, no longer deprived of the Spirit of God. 
With Him return peace and happiness, which in 
Scriptural contemplation is the soul's life, and man 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 117 

is again a living soul. Well then may every, once 
poor, now infinitely rich, penitent soul join in the 
exhortation of the Psalmist — kings of the earth and 
all people ; princes and all judges of the earth ; both 
young men and maidens; old men and children. 
Let them praise the name of the Lord; for His 
name alone is excellent; His glory is above the 
earth and heaven. Ps. 148: 11, 12, 13. 

OUR CRITIC CRITICISED. 

"God's love forbids His existing in a universal 
void." Says our critic: "This is a proposition 
beautifully elaborated by Rev. L. L. Hill in our 
issue of February 24th. The reasoning on it sug- 
gested the idea of the weakness of the human in- 
tellect when attempting to grasp the nature of the 
Divine Being, and the reasons of His acts." The 
quotation made by the critic does not fully state the 
proposition. The whole article proceeds upon the 
idea that the void in question is not only universal, 
but eternal. Does he mean to say that God, who is 
infinite and essential love, according to His own 
definition of Himself, could in the nature of things 
exist through eternity without loving or doing a 
single act of love? If he means this, and what else 
can he mean, it is to be hoped he is himself a 
stranger to such fruitless love as his reasoning 
credits his Maker with. Again, he assumes that I 
am "attempting to grasp the nature of the Divine 
Being"; whereas, instead of attempting that, I ex- 



118 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

plicitly deny that He has a nature at all, and as to 
what His essential being is, He speaks for Himself : 
"God is love." This point in the criticism must 
have been made like one of Justice Bradley's de- 
cisions on the High Commission, before a hearing 
was had at all. As to the inquiry after the reasons 
of His (God's) acts, this is both a privilege and a 
duty, for being a reasonable God, He constantly 
points us to reasons in His Word, and actually con- 
descends to extend the invitation: "Come, let us 
reason together." Isa. 1 : 18. Again he says: "All 
we know of God or can know of Him, is from His 
manifestations or declarations." This is so plain a 
truth that he might have trusted the intelligence of 
the reader to see it, without being at the trouble to 
declare it. But it is as true of man, as it is of God; 
all beyond that in both cases is inferred. Well, 
shall we never infer man's acts, and when God ex- 
tends the invitation, Come, let us reason together, 
and Christ says, Search the Scriptures, John 5 : 39, 
is it not both a privilege and a duty to infer? Half 
the practical power of truth is in the inference 
drawn from it. Inference is honored with the pa- 
ternity of most of the great discoveries of science. 
Newton infers a revolving universe from the fall of 
an apple, and yet, in the estimation of our critic, 
it seems to be an inexcusable weakness in me to 
infer that infinite love must be true to itself, acting, 
loving and blessing. Pardon me, my critical brother, 
if there is any act of man which brings an approving 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 1 19 

smile to our Father's face, it is to see His children 
with hearts glowing with love, humbly, yet earnestly 
inquiring after His ways, and tracing all His provi- 
dences up to His adorable wisdom, goodness and 
love. 

But our critic, as if with the borrowed thunders 
of Olympus, forbids our drawing the reasonable in- 
ference that it was in the nature of things impossible 
for God, who is love, to exist in a universal and 
eternal void, out-Herods Herod, and after asking 
the question, "What further inferences must we 
draw from the premises?" (the premises being in 
fact my inference) answers: "Simply that God 
never did exist without objects of love; and fur- 
ther, that intelligent beings have been created from 
eternity, or there have been intelligent beings in exist- 
ence coeval with the existence of the being of God." 
Well, this is logic, shades of Zeno, Whately and 
Blair! Who can our critic be? Let us throw his 
reasoning into a closely connected logical form, so 
that the intelligent reader may fully appreciate its 
logical force. "If God be love, His essence forbids 
His existing in a universal and eternal void" ; there- 
fore, "God never did exist without objects of love; 
and further, that intelligent beings have been cre- 
ated from eternity, or there have been intelligent 
beings, in existence coeval with the existence of the 
being of God"; that is, he concludes creatures are 
created, and yet their existence is as eternal as 
God's, or that cause and effect are "coeval," or 



120 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

equally eternal. His trouble is that God could not 
exist without rational creatures, in that he has only 
mistaken effect for cause. We infer rational crea- 
tures must necessarily commence to exist at some 
time in duration as an effect of God's love, and in- 
sist upon it that our critic shall not hamper God's 
will and fix the time for Him to do the work. 

If our critic will only refresh his memory a little 
on logic and the Bible, they will put him right. 
Logic will teach him that effect follows cause, and 
cannot be "coeval" with it, and the Bible will teach 
him that "a thousand years in thy sight are but as 
yesterday." Ps. 90 : 4. That time, however long with 
man, is but a point with God. He must not lose 
sight of the fact that God is the glorious theme of 
his thoughts, and he must rise above himself with 
an expansion of head and heart worthy of his 
theme, and hence he need not trouble himself about 
the antiquity of rational creatures, or how long God 
existed before it was the pleasure of His love to call 
them into existence. Love is the primal cause of 
creation. God's intellectual energies move, as they 
are moved upon, by His love — that is, they only act 
to accomplish the ends of infinite love. Our critic 
must remember, too, that Moses was not writing the 
history of creation, and that he only incidentally 
touched even upon the history of the creation of our 
world as introductory and preparatory to the after 
progressive providence which was to follow. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 121 

The logic of our critic seems to be hopelessly con- 
fused; he even concluded that in my article I was 
reasoning "a priori" which is from cause to effect ; 
whereas I find man an effect, and am reasoning "a 
posteriori" which is from effect to cause, or up 
through nature to nature's God. In taking leave of 
our critic for the present, I am compelled to compli- 
ment his energy and zeal, even if I must a little 
compromise his precision and prudence, for he 
strikes right and left, front and rear, and though 
they are not legitimately parties to this discussion 
at all, his blows fall heavily on our Calvinistic and 
Universalist friends; nor in passing does he fail to 
pay his compliments to those whose philosophy 
manufactures men out of monkeys. I, only, am 
fortunate enough to escape untouched, thanks to the 
fact that he rides Pegasus without stirrup or bridle. 

A REJOINDER. 

The Christian at Work says: "That it is not 
without hope of seeing the secular business of the 
week transacted in five days, giving the Sabbath for 
rest and recreation and a Sunday for doing the 
Lord's work in the churches." The above is en- 
dorsed, if not claimed, by the editor of The Method- 
ist Protestant, as is admitted by his reply to my 
former article. God says, "Six days shalt thou 
labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is 
the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not 
do any work. * * * For in six days the Lord made 
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, 



122 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

and rested the seventh day." Ex. 20:9, 10. We 
asked in a former article how the hope of the edi- 
tor's is to be reconciled with the commandment of 
God. The editor of The Methodist Protestant an- 
swers : "It does not need to be reconciled to it, 
when the Christian at Work and The Methodist 
Protestant are understood in their meaning." 

1. We object that the idea of the two editors is 
unhappily expressed, if the idea itself was unob- 
jectionable. Sunday is the name of a day devoted 
by ancient heathens to the worship of the sun. The 
Sabbath is a day set apart by God for the worship 
of Himself. In the extract the Sabbath is to be a 
day of suspended secular labor and for recreation, 
and Sunday, the heathen day, for God's service and 
worship. Brethren should be more discriminating 
in the use of words. Give to God His own day. 

2. The idea is objectionable. God's creative 
work is cited as man's example for his secular work, 
and his resting (without tire), or suspension of it 
on the seventh day as a day of rest, prayer, praise 
and worship of God. Brother Drinkhouse agrees 
with us that the commandment to work, or rest, is 
equally imperative. We ask, did God suspend His 
creative work at the end of the fifth day? If He 
did not, as it is cited as an example, how can Chris- 
tians suspend their secular work and make a hiatus 
of one day between the fifth and the seventh with- 
out violating God's commandment? We think 
there is a very loud call for reconciliation between 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 123 

our brother's idea and God's commandment. God 
commands, work the sixth day; he says rest. 
What is meant by work appears to us clear enough, 
though our editorial friend and Christian brother 
seems to make his principal point on it. The pur- 
suit of any occupation necessary to supply the 
natural, that is, the physical, social and intellectual 
necessities of man, as contra-distinguished from 
spiritual, involves work covered by the command- 
ment. It covers both laborers' work, and what, for 
distinction's sake, might very properly be called 
recreative work. The one relieves the other; both 
are essential, and grand and glorious in their bless- 
ings and results. The scribe who runs his pen to 
instruct, amuse and edify others, and is himself 
triply blessed in doing so, is as much a worker as 
when he turns mechanic and drives his saw or plane, 
and the man who works his brains, as the one who 
works his muscles. The industry and degree of the 
work contemplates both profit and pleasurable en- 
tertainment, not drudgery, as the editor has it; 
profit to cover the natural wants of man (for they 
are his appointed overseers), and to make society 
progressive; pleasurable, to happify the mind of 
the laborer with present entertainment, and the 
heart with blessed hope, whether it be mental or 
physical work, or both. Fortunately, or rather 
providentially, man has a happy adaptativeness to 
the different callings of labor; diversified native 
taste, education and habit make one man happy in 



124 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

one calling that is utterly repugnant to another in 
another calling, in which the latter is equally happy. 
The continuance of the work ends by the command- 
ment where God's creative work ended, at the end 
of the sixth day, not the fifth; otherwise why not 
the fourth, third, or even second, as Franklin's cal- 
culation, quoted by Brother Drinkhouse, would 
bring the necessity for secular labor inside of two 
days. Did God make a mistake in the necessary 
time when He said, "Six days shalt thou labor"? 
A lesson to children is sometimes instructive to 
those of mature age. "Satan finds some mischief 
still for idle hands to do." And the devil, while 
fishing, baited his hook with honors for one class, 
money for another, flattery for another, etc. ; but 
he said the idle needed no bait, he would bite at the 
naked hook. Constant occupation is one of the ap- 
pointed and most efficient safeguards of the morals 
of man, and God has made a diversion from one 
useful occupation to another in secular business His 
natural and necessary rest in them; and when His 
secular duties are suspended at the end of the sixth 
day, prayer, praise, and worship on the seventh are 
a part of the great and glorious chain (by divine ap- 
pointment) of man's diversified occupation. Where 
secular labor ends, sacred work commences, which 
is the sweetest rest to the soul of man. 

No, my brother, no. If man is overworked, cur- 
tail the degree of its intensity, give it a recreative 
diversion ; this is open to be settled by reason and 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 125 

necessity, but dare not shorten the appointed time, 
when God says, "Six days thou shalt labor." We 
opine that many more men rust out than wear out. 
In conclusion, from an epitaph which he wrote in 
early life, Franklin seemed clearly to be a believer, 
but his position later in life was more equivocal; 
but his authority in any event cannot be recognized 
upon a point of duty upon which God has given an 
explicit and positive commandment. "Six days," 
not "three hours a day," for six days shalt thou 
labor. Franklin reasons from a hypothesis, God 
commands from knowledge, for a present and fu- 
ture continuous necessity. 

THE DIACONATE 
Acts 6:1-6; 1 Tim. 3:8-13 
I should truly be alarmed at receiving the cross- 
fire of two editors — the one of The Methodist Prot- 
estant and the other of The Protestant Evangelist — 
at the same time, if I did not find myself in com- 
pany with the Alabama Conference of the Method- 
ist Protestant Church, the author of Acts, and the 
Apostle Paul, and all of us in the impregnable cita- 
del of Scriptural truth, compared with which Gib- 
raltar is as a glass castle. With such company and 
so fortified, I am as composed as Kleber, unappre- 
hensive of danger, smoking his pipe while the storm 
of battle raged around him. My only apprehension 



Written May 15, 1875. 



126 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

is, if the battle should be sharp my guns may be 
silenced and spiked, not by argument but an edi- 
torial fiat. And just here let me be beforehand with 
an apology, which is this: Fear is an involuntary 
passion, and first I censure myself for such a fear 
in breaking a lance with two knights of the quill 
who are in all respects worthy of my steel, and 
would scorn such a refuge. 

In the strictures of the editor of The Methodist 
Protestant upon the portion of my letter ordered 
published by the Alabama Annual Conference of 
the Methodist Protestant Church, he holds the fol- 
lowing language: "We are informed that the ob- 
ject of the Alabama Conference in requesting (or- 
dering) its publication was to elicit the opinion of 
the Church on the subject discussed." Notwith- 
standing the intimation to the contrary, I insist upon 
it that the Alabama Conference and I are in com- 
pany, and that as before the conference I was re- 
sponsible for that portion of my letter, before the 
reading public the conference now is. Nor does the 
conference ask for the apologetic a^gis of the editor. 
It is composed of men of brains and heart, men 
capable of seeing and daring to do the right. The 
object of the Alabama Conference in ordering that 
publication was promptly and decidedly to express 
its disapprobation of the abolition of the Diaconate, 
not to its membership only, but to the whole Church, 
and, if possible, to the whole world, for it felt that 
a blunder had been committed bordering upon a 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 127 

crime in striking down an institution in the Church 
venerable with age, primitive in origin, and sacred 
by the consecration of apostolic hands and prayers. 
It was not seeking "to elicit the opinion of the 
Church," nor to borrow one from Maryland or else- 
where, but to express its own. It is not a mere mir- 
ror but a sunbeam. 

The author of those strictures is too well in- 
formed not to know that it could not, as a body of 
moral and spiritual guides, order that publication 
without becoming responsible for it, or stultifying 
itself by ordering it, and then expressing its dis- 
approbation. What! the Alabama Conference 
publish that which it doubts to be true, or that which 
it knows to be false, or that it is so ignorant as not 
to have an opinion in a matter upon which it is its 
imperative duty to have one, and wishes to borrow 
one, or that it has not the moral courage to avow 
one until others give it the cue ? It will tamely bear 
neither of these humiliations, and if that conven- 
tion meets four years hence, I greatly mistake its 
temper if it do not insist that some grave errors, 
committed since the days of our fathers, shall be 
corrected; wrongs and injuries inflicted upon her 
Constitution and Discipline righted, and an office — 
the Diaconate — if "unbaptized," yet administered by 
one filled with the Holy Ghost, who died preaching 
the Gospel and embalmed in apostolic prayer, shall 
not be rudely torn down and "trodden under the 
feet of men." 
9 



128 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

While I have great respect for the intellectual 
power of Brother Drinkhouse, I differ with him 
toto caelo as to the proper time for this discussion. 
That a possible error has been committed, none will 
question, if, indeed, the startled feeling and wide- 
spread dissatisfaction of the Church do not make 
it a probable error. I have little doubt every con- 
ference has its doubting minds and anxious hearts, 
for letters are reaching me from other conferences 
confirming this impression, and in one instance at 
least a whole conference has declared against it. 
The Church is in commotion and demands discus- 
sion that her convictions may be clear, her opinions 
fixed and conscience eased; and our editorial 
brother may, like Neptune in the Aeneid, when the 
storm was raging and the stars were almost bathed 
in the brimy waters of the ocean, lift his sage head 
above the tempestuous billows and issue his com- 
mand, "Peace, be still for three years and then you 
may rage"; but authority without argument will 
only provoke the resisting forces, and, as in the 
case of Canute, the waves will lift him in his easy 
chair. But is this delay wise? Has not a Church 
its habits as well as an individual, and may not it 
become familiarized with error? Witness the 
Church of Rome. Would the brother advise an 
individual to practice a possible or probable error 
for three or more years, and then discuss its pro- 
priety? If an error, might it not in that time (by 
the force of association and practice) lose its de- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 129 

formity and marshal habit in its service as a power- 
ful, if not invincible auxiliary? Let him and the 
Church learn wisdom of the ancient fable. The 
serpent was harmless when first placed in the hus- 
bandman's bosom. Is it not hazardous for even a 
Church to tamper with dangerous things? 

In the opinion of the writer, the Alabama Con- 
ference occupies an enviable position in promptly 
and fearlessly publishing its disapproval of the abo- 
lition of the Diaconate. So far as I know, she is 
by official action in the front of the battle, which is 
yet to be fought for the salvation of this Bible insti- 
tution in the Methodist Protestant Church, without 
the Mississippi Conference has anticipated it by a still 
bolder declaration of its disapprobation. After the 
action of the General Conference, it ordered deacons 
ordained, and I opine Brother Drinkhouse mistook 
rebellion for ignorance, when he rather sarcastically 
remarked "our brethren of that conference needed 
to be enlightened with a few copies of the General 
Conference Journal or editions of our Discipline." 
Our noble and venerable Church father, Brother 
Brewer, who has the moral courage never to dodge 
responsibility, advised the Alabama Conference to 
do the same and treat the action of the General 
Conference as a nullity. But with the profoundest 
respect for one I have known only to love and ven- 
erate, I would suggest neither secession nor rebel- 
lion, but moderation of feeling and a focalization 
of the light of experience, reason and revelation. 



130 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

I frankly acknowledge my obligation for the fol- 
lowing rather sharp but well meant little lecture 
upon a point of taste: "His (Brother Hill's) slur 
upon D.D.'s comes with an ill grace from one who 
supports his opinions by citing from a list of vener- 
able names, nearly all of whom were D.D.'s." The 
following is both my explanation and apology: 
When I addressed the Alabama Conference, know- 
ing it to be composed of "practical, sensible fisher- 
men, such as our fathers were (as my memory 
serves me)," I only quoted from the Scriptures, be- 
cause I knew their authority would be conclusive 
and satisfactory with them; but when it ordered its 
publication and authorized its revision, knowing 
D.D.'s were to be both my disciples and critics, I 
thought they would require more, and hence cited 
D.D.'s as authority with D.D.'s. Again their pre- 
scriptions have nearly proved fatal to the Alabama 
Conference, and if I am wanting in appreciation of 
such titles and honors, it is because I have been too 
confiding a disciple of a very learned Englishman, 
whose name literally groaned under them, who, 
when more advanced in life, became disgusted with 
their cheapness and said they were not marks of 
literary merit, but personal favoritism. Now that 
formerly D.D. meant a profound acquaintance with 
theological science, now a superficial acquaintance 
with the elementary principles of theology, do you 
want evidence beyond question that they are per- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 131 

sonal compliments? Why, General Grant is an 
LL.D. 

Again says the brother, "Certainly the degenerate 
sons assembled at Lynchburg were no bolder oper- 
ators than their revered fathers of 1828. Witness 
their work. Never did Vandal scourge Rome nor 
iconoclast in any age tear down idols as our Church 
fathers. It would appear that the sons had only in- 
herited the traits of the fathers on the broadest ad- 
mission," etc. Does the brother see resemblance 
between the acts of the fathers as they enter the 
temple of error and dash to pieces its idols and 
chain the spirit of usurpation which throttled and 
gagged honest inquiry, and the acts of the late Gen- 
eral Conference, which, like an ecclesiastical hurri- 
cane, swept alike through our Discipline and the 
Bible, carrying away from the former one at least 
of its most precious jewels, and tearing out of the 
latter an institution born of lay election, almost with 
the birth of the Church of Christ, wrapped in apos- 
tolic prayers as swaddling clothes, and crowned 
with apostolic honors and benedictions? If this is 
resemblance, will the brother give a specimen of 
contrast ? 

Says the editor, "The measure chiefly deplored 
(the abolition of the Diaconate) received the unani- 
mous recommendation of the Committee on Re- 
vision, and we believe a two-third vote of the con- 
ference on its passage." Suppose it did. What of 
it? Will he tell us who was chairman of that com- 



132 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

mittee, and whether one conference did not have the 
majority of all the committeemen upon it, and 
whether local interest might not unconsciously have 
warped the opinions and sympathies of that major- 
ity? As much has been intimated to me by an in- 
telligent, observing member of that conference from 
North Carolina. As to the conference, half of its 
members were laymen — I am proud to say noble 
specimens in intelligence and moral worth, of a true 
Christian manhood, but upon questions of this kind 
have been educated to feel it a duty to follow, not 
to lead; and as the Quaker said about saying grace, 
it is out of their line of business. I should have 
been unprepared for the question if I had been a 
member of the conference. Judging other minis- 
ters by myself, I venture the opinion (except a few 
who had premeditated the act; nine-tenths of the 
ministerial members were hurried into action with- 
out the opportunity of forming a well-considered 
and matured opinion, and when another opportunity 
offers, a resurrection power will run through that 
grave, and the shroud will be stripped from the 
limbs of the Diaconate. 

Again it is said, "No authorities can be quoted, 
Scriptural or patristic, and no arguments advanced 
in favor of the Diaconate as an order of the min- 
istry that will not inevitably compel the concession 
of the bishopric as an order, and so establish the 
Episcopal system." For names I care nothing, but 
for the nature of the thing. Call the Diaconate an 



;rmo s,add > papers 133 

order or an of: you please, but give me a 

Scriptural Diaconate with its full-grown preaching 
privi rid eleem i j ary < . such as Philip 

and Stephen (two of the first, chosen) practiced and 
discharged, [f, to - rom Episcopacy, I must 

ignore or repudiate all Scriptural, patristic ami 
argumentative authority, the sacrifice is too gr< 
I cannot make it; I prefer a thousand times to ac- 
cept Episcopal , 

But this is not inevitable, It has never beefi con- 
tended that deacon and elder are the same; but all 
non-Episcopal Methodists are agreed that bishop 
and presbyter are. Lord K 
ley, and they and the Scriptures have convinced me, 

inally, Brother Drinkhouse calls the Ou - em ate a 
"mongrel, unbaptized thing," Here 1 might liqui- 
date my debt to him on the score of taste; but no, 
J will remain . ' rtoi So the Saviour was scorn- 
fully called the carpenter's son, and Beelzebub; 
still He v/as the Son of God and the Saviour of man- 
kind. Pardon me, my brother, if v/e <\\tf<;r, and 
with reverential awe 1 uncover, as I stand by a 
. . . Conference, to re- 

ferable v/ith ary ia< v •• / a 
tions, rich in bless /., chosen of the laity • 

ed by the college of as. • , inspired by the 
Holy Ghost, in which the first martyr died, and for 
the institution oi . >ofhapp> suls y/ill 

forever thank God. In such a connection the fol- 
lows Brother Coldwell, of the Pro^ 



134 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

estant Evangelist, is cruelly severe upon our late 
General Conference : "The wisdom of the late Gen- 
eral Conference in abolishing the order and office of 
deacon is the grandest triumph it has achieved since 
the separation in 1828." Whether he meant it or 
not, neither Sheridan nor John Randolph ever con- 
densed more biting irony in the same number of 
words. I will reply to him through the Protestant 
Evangelist if he will allow it, and I suppose he will, 
first, as a matter of courtesy to me; second, as mat- 
ter of duty to the Alabama Conference, as his paper 
is its local organ and her opinion is in question. 

THE DIACONATE 

I do not propose to enter upon the discussion of the 
question whether it was wise or unwise in our late 
General Conference to abolish the order and office 
of deacon. This is a subordinate question, which 
might be entangled with and embarrassed by con- 
siderations of expediency. The question before us 
is of infinitely broader base, more massive propor- 
tions, and sublimer height. It towers heavenward, 
and if the order and office of deacon is of divine 
appointment, our late General Conference has un- 
wittingly touched the prerogative of God, and ques- 
tioned the wisdom of His providential plans; for 
the same ecclesiastical guillotine, and with the same 
fell blow which struck off the head of the order, also 



Written in 1876. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 135 

decapitated the office ; for I find the order and office 
of deacon in the word of God, and I find neither in 
either our Constitution or Discipline. 

If it be said the office of steward in our Consti- 
tution answers to that of deacon in the word of 
God, before we close this discussion we shall da- 
guerreotype both, and call the attention of the intel- 
ligent reader to their features of resemblance, or 
contrast. For the present, we accept the position 
assigned us by our opponents, and state the question 
in accordance with their view of it. 

The question, then, is this — Is a deacon a sacred 
ministerial, or exclusively a secular lay officer of the 
Church of Christ? 

If it is a sacred ministerial office, and conned af- 
firmatively (they being judges), the question as to 
whether the action of our late General Conference 
was wise or unwise is necessarily carried along with 
it; for if God was wise in instituting it, they cer- 
tainly were unwise in abolishing it. 

At the threshold of this discussion let us define as 
clearly and as comprehensively as possible the mean- 
ing of the Greek word diakonos. It means "a 
waiter, attendant, servant, minister." Words do 
not limit ideas; ideas circumscribe and fix the 
meaning of words. A word has no natural adapta- 
tion to express an idea; otherwise there would not 
be over a thousand languages in the world. The 
meaning of words varies to suit the variation of 
ideas at different times; ideas never vary to suit 



136 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

words. The power of an idea over a word is well 
illustrated in the telegraph. We must therefore de- 
termine the meaning of the Greek word in the New 
Testament by the connection in which it stands, by 
the occupation of those to whom it is applied, by its 
most frequent rendering in our version, by the in- 
terpretation of learned commentators, and by the 
use of it in the primitive Church. Now let us apply 
the rule above laid down for fixing its most probable 
and most frequent meaning. 

It is not contended that it does not apply to one 
who attends to secular service, for it applies to any 
service; but that it does not exclusively apply to 
such. In Acts 6: 1-6, in which the duties of a 
deacon are "supposed" to be described — the pas- 
sages relied upon by our opponents as conclusive 
in establishing its exclusive application to a secular 
lay office, diakonos does not appear; only the func- 
tions of an officer are described by the kindred word 
diakonia — "attendance, ministry, ministration serv- 
ice" ; nor is it to be found in Acts at all. 

Of the seven whose duties are "supposed" to be 
wholly described, the only two of whom we have a 
history were both engaged in preaching the Gospel. 
Stephen did not preach because he had a defense to 
make, as was stated in an article recently published 
in the Protestant, but he had to make a defense be- 
cause he was committing the alleged crime of preach- 
ing the Gospel, his enemies being witnesses. (See 
Acts 6 : 14.) If this was not his offense, what was 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 137 

it? His gift to work miracles is conclusive that he 
was not a private, but a public character ; not a sec- 
ular lay, but a sacred ministerial officer of the 
Church; if not, no other case occurs to me in which 
a private layman was similarly gifted. I am aware 
it has been supposed others had the gift; but I am 
not dealing with the suppositions of men, but the 
facts of Scripture. 

"And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great 
wonders and miracles among the people." (See 
Acts 6:8.) And for what, to attest the fact that he 
was a secular lay financial officer of the Church — a 
steward ? Never. 

Philip also, the other one of the two, of whom 
we have a history, preached. The apostles owned 
the work — the Holy Ghost put the seal of miracles 
upon it, and he was called the evangelist. (Acts 
8:6; 21:8.) 

Of the other five we have no history; but this is 
by no means conclusive against their preaching ; for 
we have no authentic evidence that a number of the 
apostles preached, and shall we infer from that, they 
did not ? By no means. That the special duties of 
those seven were not inconsistent with the minis- 
terial office is clear, from the fact that they were for 
a time performed by the apostles themselves, and 
their reason for desisting was, they absorbed too 
much of their valuable time from other and more 
important duties, not inconsistency. 

If Stephen and Philip did not get their authority 
to preach by the prayer and laying on of hands by 



138 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

the apostles, whence did they derive it ? Will those 
who maintain the contrary point us to the time and 
place, and tell us who imparted it ? 

We have the most conclusive declaratory evidence 
that both Philip and Stephen preached; we have 
only inferential evidence that Philip ministered to 
tables, and it is quite certain Stephen never did; for 
the history shows he was stoned to death before he 
had the opportunity; if then he was ordained to 
serve tables alone, God failed of His object, the 
apostles being inspired and this an official act for 
the good of the Church. What then? We are ir- 
resistibly forced to the conclusion to save God's 
foresight from disparagement, and Himself from 
disappointment, that Stephen was ordained to the 
work upon which he immediately entered, and in 
discharge of the duties of which he gloriously died. 
He is today a power in two worlds; his martyr's 
crown makes him a power in the world above, and 
that one discourse, accompanied by miracles, sealed 
with his blood, and adorned with his last prayer, 
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," makes him 
a power in the world below, and God's foresight 
and wisdom stand fully vindicated. 

Serving tables was a special, but subordinate duty, 
brought prominently forward because it was laid 
down by the apostles and taken up by the seven. 
No official act of serving tables by any one of the 
seven is mentioned, while the preaching and minis- 
terial or real deacon service lived afterwards in the 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 139 

primitive Church, and will ever live in a Church 
where the official acts of the apostles are recognized 
as they should be as laying obligations for observ- 
ance in after times. 

As the Scriptures are the word of God, I submit 
to our opponents two questions for solution. 1. Is 
it not reasonable for us to expect that the words 
most perfectly defining the ideas, and most clearly 
expressing them are employed? 2. If the office of 
steward is intended, would it not have been better 
defined and expressed by the Greek word oikonomos, 
a steward, manager, a distributer? (See Donni- 
gan's Lex.; Clarke's Com., Gal. 4:2; Luke 16: 1; 
Bloomfield's Ibid.) 

The word diakonos is used in the New Testament 
thirty times; translated minister twenty times; 
servant seven times; deacon three times. Says a 
very learned friend in a recent letter to me, "from 
which it is clear the translators more frequently un- 
derstood it to mean a preacher or teacher than any- 
thing else." 

That deacons are an inferior order of ministers 
to presbyters, elders, bishops, all of which are the 
same order, is made plain by the following passages 
of Scripture: "Paul and Timotheus, the servants 
of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, 
which are at Philippi, with the episkopois kai diako- 
nois, bishops and deacons." If deacons are laymen, 
why were they not comprehended in the expression 
"all the saints"? Why were they placed in juxta- 



140 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

position with bishops, and mentioned as a distinct 
class with them? Again, after the Apostle Paul 
has given a detailed description of the requisite 
characteristics of a bishop, he couples it with those 
of a deacon as follows : 

"Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double- 
tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of 
filthly lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a 
pure conscience. And let these also first be proved ; 
then let them use the office of a deacon, being found 
blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not 
slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the 
deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their 
children and their own houses well. For they that 
have used the office of a deacon well purchase to 
themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the 
faith which is in Christ Jesus." 1 Tim. 3 : 8-13. 

Can it be possible that all this relates to a private 
financial officer of the Church? Why, as in the 
preceding passage quoted above, does the deacon 
follow immediately after the bishop, coupled by an 
adverbial conjunction, "likewise," or in like manner 
with the bishop ? And a little further on it is said, 
"Let them also be proved" ; that is, in same manner 
with the bishop. Why the parallel kept up between 
a deacon and a steward ? It is too clear to admit of 
a doubt, in both instances the apostles has in his 
mind's eye a true diakonos, a minister, a preacher. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 141 

WRONG RIGHTED. 

An article appeared in the Methodist Protestant 
of the 24th of March, signed by B. S. B., F. M. G., 
E. H., and W. T. R., Trustees of the Methodist 
Protestant Church, Montgomery, Ala., which em- 
phatically demands a reply. 

They say, "We deplore the exposing to public 
gaze the errors and prejudices which evidently 
prompted L. L. Hill's ungenerous attack upon our 
church, yet self-preservation, the first law of Na- 
ture, demands it." As "it is human to err," I 
frankly admit, like all other men, I may and do err ; 
but that I have acted under prejudice I most posi- 
tively deny. Why should I have prejudices against 
that church? Have I not enjoyed a successful 
pastorate there? Is not my wife a member of it 
and a number of her most intimate friends in it? 
Have not my family worshipped there and my chil- 
dren attended its Sunday school? Have not some 
of its member kindly waited on my sick ? Have not 
my dead been borne by kind hands from its altar 
to their final resting place? Have not the most 
cherished friendships of my life been formed among 
its members? In the very nature of things how 
could I have acted from prejudice? I further deny 
that I have made an "ungenerous attack," or any 
other kind upon that church. I have treated it 
with, as I have felt it, the profoundest respect. Had 
Christian charity abounded with those brethren as 
I could have hoped, they would have charged me 



142 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

with error, and credited me with a higher motive — 
a stern sense of conscientious duty. The prejudices 
of some of the member of that church against our 
home ministry I have for years deplored, and un- 
constitutional demands upon the conferences I have 
and will ever protest against. Is that an attack 
upon the church? 

Again, they charge "that L. L. Hill has attempted 
to create among us, what he attributes to us, dis- 
cord and distraction, by publicly rebuking our ar- 
rangements for pastoral supply and by private at- 
tempts to disaffect some of the members of this 
church." Oh, brethren, have more of Christian 
charity, to say nothing of brotherly love! If by 
moving the repeal of a resolution, which has an- 
nulled the Constitution, which I reverence, and es- 
tablished in defiance of it the rankest kind of Con- 
gregationalism and taken the appointing power from 
the conference, and giving my reasons for such a 
motion is "publicly rebuking their arrangements for 
a pastoral supply," I plead guilty; and if by advis- 
ing members of that church to a proper respect for 
their own conference, a hearty acquiescence in its 
constitutional acts and co-operation with its plans 
both publicly and privately, is an "attempt to dis- 
affect some or all of its members," then I am guilty. 
More than this I fearlessly challenge those brethren 
to prove. I, and others of my way of thinking, 
have advised members not to withdraw, who ex- 
pressed a determination to do so. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 143 

Again, tJiey charge that "L. L. Hill has assumed 
a guardianship of the Montgomery Church at home 
and abroad." This charge is made without alleg- 
ing any fact to sustain it. I ask wherein? "At 
home,'' I suppose, by moving the repeal alluded to 
above; and "abroad," I suppose, by answering 
J. J. M. Had I not a perfect right to do both, the 
conference to determine the wisdom of the former 
and an intelligent public the latter? They mistake 
me, I, like every other loyal Methodist Protestant, 
am exercising a guardianship over the Constitution 
against lawbreakers — it is the law, not them. But 
they express happiness in their ability to take care 
of themselves. Very well, but there are others in 
the same church, who want to take care of them- 
selves too, inside of law and in harmony with the 
conference. 

Again, they charge that "the contemplated re- 
scinding of the unconstitutional resolution was not 
generally known, and was only mentioned to one 
family of our church by a minister en route to con- 
ference on the day of assembling." Further they 
assert "the constitutionality of the resolution was 
not the main point, but prejudice against our sup- 
ply outside of the Alabama Conference and the se- 
vere arraignment of the Maryland Conference and 
one of our pastors by L. L. Hill, as much as any- 
thing else, precipitated the vote." I would say this 
is disingenuous but for the respect I have for those 
brethren. I requested Bro. B. S. B., both at his 
10 



144 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

home and on the streets, to attend conference, as he 
was the author of the resolution of which I pro- 
posed to move a repeal; and I also requested two 
of our ministers to request him to be present and 
give their reasons for their request, one of whom I 
have reason to believe did so. I am greatly mis- 
taken if the delegate from the church did not know 
my intention before we left Montgomery. I have 
no recollection of arraigning the Maryland Confer- 
ence, and cannot now conjecture any reason why I 
should have done so. I did criticise the orthodoxy 
of one of the Maryland pastors, but in no way the 
pastor himself. Would those trustees endorse the 
doctrine criticised? I feel quite sure that the con- 
ference in a body would testify that I was person- 
ally respectful to every Maryland pastor of that 
church. With what propriety those brethren can 
become expositors of the motives that induced the 
conference to rescind that resolution, they and an 
intelligent public must decide, as I am quite sure 
neither one of them was present during the confer- 
ence. They must excuse me; that conference is 
too high in Christian character and dignity to act 
from the sordid motive of prejudice, which has been 
imputed to them. 

In the face of the "precipitated" rescinding of 
that resolution, as stated by those brethren from 
hearsay, I fearlessly reaffirm : 

1. That for weeks and even months before con- 
ference met I received letters requesting me to move 
the repeal. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 145 

2. Conference was in its second or third day's 
sitting when the motion was made. 

3. It was much discussed privately among its 
members. 

4. Notice was given in conference some time be- 
fore the motion was made that it would be made. 

5. That one adjournment after the motion was 
made occurred before the vote was taken, and I do 
not believe a single member of the conference was 
surprised into a vote. 

As to Brother H.'s resolution, I would have voted 
for it if I had been present; and one member, who 
was as earnest in debate as I was, wrote me that he 
voted for the resolution simply as a courtesy to the 
Montgomery Church. 

I would answer the uncharitable strictures upon 
our excellent and conscientious president, but he is 
amply able to take care of himself. 

Again, they say "the assertion of L. L. Hill of 
discord and distraction for a period of years is em- 
phatically incorrect. " The quotation (no doubt by 
mistake) is materially incorrect through inverted 
commas, but to shorten this article let this pass. 
Now I, with an honest and earnest desire to bring 
out truth, beg those brethren to answer the follow- 
ing questions : 

1. Is the present Board of Trustees unanimous 
on the question of a foreign pastoral supply, and 
would it not be inferred from the way that article is 
signed that it is? 



146 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

2. Has not recently a trustee been voted out of 
the board who thought differently from them as to 
a supply, and who approved the action of the con- 
ference ? 

3. Were not two or more of the signing trustees, 
to say nothing of others, severely at issue ; one con- 
tending that one of the pastors should remain, and 
the other that he should be retired ? 

4. Has no member of that board said substan- 
tially, before he became a member, that there was 
so much division in the church and he found so 
little satisfaction there that he had well-nigh made 
up his mind to withdraw? 

5. Was not there an unseemly public expression 
of satisfaction, by some of the members, when one 
of its pastors, an able and pious man, preached his 
last discourse? 

6. Did not two of its pastors retire from its pas- 
torate under heavy fire of sharp, if not intolerant, 
criticism, at the hands of one of the signing 
trustees ? 

7. Is the church now in peace? 

If the signing trustees can answer these questions 
satisfactorily, then I will gladly say they and the 
facts regarding the church have been unaccountably 
misrepresented and misunderstood. 

Luther L. Hill. 

Note. — The Methodist Protestant Church in Montgomery 
was one of the most influential churches of the city, and was 
the leading Methodist Protestant Church of the Alabama 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 147 

Conference, and because of its influence had persuaded the 
conference to allow them to call pastors from the Maryland 
Conference, where were to be found the strongest men of 
this denomination. Mr. Hill, who had served this church ac- 
ceptably and successfully, held that the conference had the 
power of appointment and the church had no power to call 
pastors, and that in either case, the men of the Alabama Con- 
ference should be eligible. He was not present, having re- 
tired to his plantation to rear his family, when the resolution 
was passed allowing this church special privileges, but at- 
tended the following conference and moved the repeal of the 
resolution. 

EGO'S VIEWS OF THE PHENOMENA OF 
LIFE REVIEWED. 

Editor Advertiser: God recognizes the right 
of man by the aid of reason and the senses both, to 
test truth : "Come, now, and let us reason to- 
gether," says God. Isa. 1 : 18. "Reach hither thy 
hand and thrust it into my side," said Christ, John 
20 : 27, so that we would not have "Banquo's 
Ghost" down if it would. Truth neither in nor out 
of the Bible is in any fear of honest investigation. 
It neither fears true nor false sinecures ; true will in 
the end confirm it, false will sooner or later die out. 

What is life? is a question much more easily 
asked than answered. Says Ego : "It is something 
or nothing. If something it must be substance, 
which is subtle fluid, which is the highest refinement 
of matter, commonly known as electricity." He 
says : "The Bible tells us God breathed the breath 



Written November u, 1879. 



148 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

of life into man, and he became a living' soul." 
Again he says: "This principle (life) being uni- 
versal substance ('fluid electricity') coming from 
the lips of God, is indestructible and cannot amal- 
gamate nor be absorbed or destroyed. The soul be- 
ing made up of that fluid, or principle of life, will, 
of necessity, be eternal, retaining its individuality," 
etc. The word substance is used by materialistic 
writers to signify sublimated matter, in contradis- 
tinction from corporeity, which means its grosser 
forms. 

Ego concludes life is substance or nothing — that 
is, everything must be substance or corporeity or 
nothing — all existence must of necessity be either 
gross or refined matter; all else is nothing. What 
then; I am thinking, imagining, recollecting and 
feeling pleasure or pain — all of these must be sub- 
stance — refined matter or nothing; though they 
have names and are daily discussed as things, as 
something. The Bible represents happiness as the 
life of the soul; it nowhere speaks of its death as 
extinction. Happiness then must be substance — 
refined matter ; so must justice, mercy, truthfulness, 
etc., or they are nothing. God Himself, though He 
speaks of Himself as a spirit, as something differ- 
ent from matter, must be, or He is nothing. If life 
is substance — fluid — electricity, what is death? If 
it is answered, it is the absence of life ; may not the 
rejoinder be made with equal propriety ? No ; death 
is a reversed kind of substance — fluid, or electricity, 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 149 

or there is no such thing. Such are some of the ab- 
surdities of Ego's materialistic reasoning. 

The truth is, life is a state, a condition of some- 
thing; what the principle essentially is, that pro- 
duces that state or condition, no man knows, or 
probably will ever know in this life. Says Ego : 
"The Bible tells us God breathed the breath of life 
(that is substance, refined matter, electricity) into 
man, and he became a living soul." The Hebrew 
word, translated life, is in the plural number, and 
should be translated lives, meaning both animal and 
spiritual life. He must have breathed into him two 
kinds of substances, fluids or electricities. 

Again he says: "The principle (life) being uni- 
versal substance (fluid electricity) coming from the 
lips of God, is indestructible and cannot amalgamate 
nor be absorbed or destroyed. The soul being made 
up of that fluid or principle of life, will of necessity 
be eternal," etc. Here Ego confounds the soul with 
its life, and concludes that it and its life, state or 
condition are one and the same thing. Suppose its 
Maker should conclude to change its state or condi- 
tion of life to one of death, would he conclude that 
God could not extinguish life without annihilating 
the soul? When he speaks of the indestructibility 
of the soul, does he mean that it has an inherent 
indestructibility independent of its Maker, or that 
it is indestructible because its Maker wills it to be 
so? The former seems to be intimated; if so, we 
answer that if God was competent to make, it is cer- 



150 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

tainly absurd to conclude that He could not destroy 
it if He would. If the latter is meant, we heartily 
concur with Ego. But how is his unwavering faith 
in the immortality of life to be harmonized with the 
following language which he holds : "Being matter 
(that is life) it must be under the control and the 
direction of the natural laws and susceptibilities of 
being organized into bodies." Now if observation 
and experience establish anything in regard to mat- 
ter it is this : that all organized forms of it are un- 
dergoing constant changes and in the end die, are 
decomposed, enter into new relations and lose their 
identity. If life is organized matter, what evi- 
dence can he give us that it is an exception to this 
universal law, and will not die, decompose and lose 
its identity ? His "ipse dixit" is not enough. 

Man is as ignorant of what the soul essentially is, 
and of what the principle essentially is that exists 
in it, that produces the state or condition of life 
(though they form his real Ego), as he is of what 
God essentially is, and of the principle of life that 
dwells in him. "Man is to man the greatest of all 
mysteries," said Dr. Young; and all he knows is 
what God has said, that He made him in His own 
image and after His own likeness; from which we 
infer he is essentially in being and life a little minia- 
ture of the Great Original. 

Two things are observable as inseparably con- 
nected with it, in both forms of life — animal and 
vegetable — with which we are acquainted; yet it is 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 151 

clear that it is neither of them. Organism and mo- 
tion are always present with it, but life is not al- 
ways present with them. Organism, deprived of 
functional action, is for a time preserved after 
death, and a ball tossed in the air has motion, in the 
absence of life, so I conclude both Ego and myself 
will have to content ourselves in ignorance of what 
the principle of life essentially is, until our powers 
of investigation are further strengthened, or God 
shall condescend to make further revelations. 

EVOLUTION. 

Editor Alabama Progress : Many of the read- 
ers of the Progress will no doubt remember that 
some time since we proposed several questions to 
evolutionary philosophers and moralists for solu- 
tion, and among them the following : 

"Under the evolutionary system, is not infanti- 
cide (under the conditions of weakness or deform- 
ity) a virtue, co-operating with and accelerating its 
ends, and its opposite a vice, opposing and obstruct- 
ing progress?" 

When that article was written we had not read 
Haeckel's History of Creation, for the question is 
fully answered in that work, Vol. 1, pages 173, 174, 
in the following language, and the doctrine of that 
philosophy is carried out still farther in the direc- 
tion of its logical consequences. 

"If any one were to venture the proposal, after 
the examples of the Spartans and Redskins, to kill, 



152 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

immediately upon their birth, all miserable, crippled 
children as to whom, with certainty, a sickly life 
could be prophesied, instead of keeping them in a 
life injurious to them and to the race, our so-called 
'humane civilization' would utter a cry of indigna- 
tion. But the same humane civilization thinks it 
quite as it should be and accepts, without a murmur, 
that at the outbreak of every war (and in the pres- 
ent state of civil life, and in the continual develop- 
ment of standing armies, war must naturally become 
more frequent), hundreds and thousands of the 
first men, full of youthful vigor, are sacrificed in the 
hazardous game of battle. The same 'humane civil- 
ization' at present praises the abolition of capital 
punishment as a 'liberal measure,' and yet capital 
punishment for incorrigible and degraded criminals 
is not only just, but also a benefit to the better por- 
tion of mankind; the same benefit is done by de- 
stroying luxuriant weeds for the prosperity of a 
well-cultivated garden. As by a careful rooting out 
of weeds, light, air and ground are gained for good 
and useful plants, in like manner, by the indiscrimi- 
nate destruction of all incorrigible criminals, not 
only would the struggle for life among the better 
portion of mankind be made easier, but also an ad- 
vantageous artificial process of selection would be 
set in practice, since the possibility of transmitting 
their injurious qualities by inheritance would be 
taken from those degenerate outcasts," 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 153 

From the foregoing extract, it must be apparent 
to every intelligent and candid reader that, accord- 
ing to that system or theory of philosophy, as ex- 
pounded by one of its ablest and most enthusiastic 
advocates, it follows as an inevitable consequence 
that infanticide, under the above conditions, is a 
virtue, and more, a duty for it is certainly the duty 
of every intelligent being to promote virtue and ad- 
vance the ends of ennobling progress. 

The philosophy and piety of Paschal, according 
to this theory, should never have blessed the world, 
and the prose and poetry of Pope should never have 
illuminated and beautified its literature, for the lat- 
ter was both feeble and deformed, and the former 
was an invalid from the cradle to the grave. 

If Haeckel means by his so-called "humane civili- 
zation" the national or international policy of the 
world, as it now exists, that sanctions the sacrifice 
of hundreds and thousands of the finest, most youth- 
ful and vigorous men in the hazardous game of 
battle, we make no demurrer; we not only disap- 
prove it upon the ground of inconsistency, as he 
does, but upon the higher ground that it is inher- 
ently wrong. 

But if he means, by his so-called "humane civili- 
zation," that the present civilization of the world or 
national or international policy in that particular is 
controlled and shaped by Christianity, and it is 
responsible for it, then we demur and insist upon it 
that in that particular it is as inconsistent with 



154 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

Christianity as it is with Haeckel's idea of consist- 
ency. The truth in a nut-shell is this — the inevit- 
able moral consequences of evolution and of Chris- 
tianity have declared eternal, uncompromising and 
exterminating war upon each other; for the rea- 
sons: first, that one admits, and the other denies 
the providence of God, and, secondly, the soul and 
policy of one is peace, and the soul and policy of the 
other is war. The progress of Christianity is made 
by the triumphs of rational and moral force — that 
of evolution through the passions and appetites, by 
blind, brute force alone. 

In the sequel of the above extract Haeckel con- 
cludes all incorrigible and degraded criminals should 
be sent to the gallows, block, or guillotine, and illus- 
trates the idea by a careful rooting out of weeds in 
a garden for good and useful plants. His conclu- 
sion, as far as it goes, is consistent, but impracti- 
cable. Had he dropped out the modifying adjectives 
"incorrigible and degraded," and said criminals, his 
consistency would have been perfect, and human in- 
strumentality would have lent all the aid in its 
power (almost to its own extermination) to the 
most speedy attainment of the end, and the gallows, 
block and guillotine would have had one continuous 
saturnalia of blood, and death, omnivorous as it is, 
would have been almost satiated with victims. It 
seems fair to hold a writer responsible for logical 
consequences, as well as for what he says, but as the 
modifying adjectives "incorrigible and degraded" 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 155 

appear in the extract, let us consider them with the 
illustration of the garden and weeds. 

We said his conclusion is consistent as far as it 
goes, but impracticable. Except the civil authorities 
were discerners of spirits and favored with fore- 
knowledge, how are they to determine which are 
and which are not incorrigible cases ? All crime de- 
grades ; hence all criminals are, in some degree, de- 
graded. Do the two adjectives apply to the same 
class of persons, or are they meant for different 
classes or degrees of crime? If to the same, the 
latter is superfluous and weakens the force of the 
former; for all incorrigible criminals are not only 
degraded, but incorrigibly so; and if it means that 
all who are degraded by crime should be indiscrimi- 
nately destroyed with the care that noxious weeds 
are rooted out of a well cultivated garden, which is 
more consistent with the theory of evolution, then 
mercy would be exiled from our world and a fit 
superscription for our courts of justice would be the 
maxim of Draco, "The smallest offense deserves 
death, and for the greatest we can inflict no higher 
penalty." 

The whole system, stripped of its cjisguises and 
the fascinations of taste and rhetoric, with which 
ingenuous and cultivated minds have dressed it, in 
its moral consequences is little less than a grand 
drama of strife, or one continuous bloody tragedy 
from the dawn of animated being down to the pres- 
ent time. 



156 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 
MR. BEECHER'S LECTURE REVIEWED. 

Editor Advertiser : The lecture of Mr. Beecher 
should not pass without criticism, as it is evidently 
intended to shake, if not overthrow the faith and 
hope of millions of the most enlightened and pro- 
gressive of our race. As to whether the world is six 
thousand or six hundred thousand years old is a 
matter of no importance, as the Bible is committed 
to neither opinion. It is a mere issue of opinion 
between Archbishop Usher, who is the author of 
our generally received chronology, and Mr. Beecher. 
Either may be right, or both may be wrong, without 
affecting Biblical truth. The sacred writer said: 
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth. And the earth was without form and void," 
etc. But he does not fix the time of the beginning, 
and it is remarkable that the evolutionary theory 
rests upon the idea that it was without form and 
void. But when Mr. Beecher says man was evolved 
from a lower animal life — that the story of Adam 
and Eve in Eden, six thousand years ago, would 
hardly bear the light of investigation, and that it 
was an improbable, unreasonable story, eliminating 
the six thousand years as merely human conjecture, 
Mr. Beecher is directly at issue with the Bible. 

Let us examine the improbability and unreason- 
ableness of this story. Now, let us suppose man's 
reason just as it is, without his ever having ob- 

April 12, 1885. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 157 

served, experienced, or heard of suffering as a thing 
actually in existence, and then let us suppose him to 
be informed that a being of infinite goodness and 
power was about to enter upon the work of creating 
natural, sensitive creatures, such as men are. 
Would not man's reason lead him to expect from 
such a being the creation of innocent, pure and 
happy creatures, and that all of their surroundings 
would be blissful, and is not this precisely the Bibli- 
cal account of man's creation and surroundings in 
Eden ? But it may be said His goodness and power 
would perpetuate this happy state of things. To 
this the answer is easy. It is obvious God could not 
conceive of a more perfect model after which to 
create a creature than Himself ; nor could He con- 
ceive of one more inherently strong to resist tempta- 
tion; nor could His benevolence be more lavished 
than to bestow such a likeness; but to bestow His 
likeness it was absolutely necessary to make him a 
free agent ; otherwise he only acted as he was acted 
upon and degenerated into a mere machine without 
autonomy or moral agency or responsibility. Now, 
God exhausted the force of motives upon him, for 
He warned him, "in the day thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die." He could make no more ter- 
rible announcement than this, and had He used 
physical force, He would have destroyed the crown- 
ing glory of free agency, before man would have 
worked a forfeiture of it by actual transgression; 
in other words, He would have punished him with a 



158 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

forfeiture, while he was yet innocent, which would 
have been unjust, if not unmerciful. Man is a 
nobler being, fallen, crowned with this divine at- 
tribute, than he would be, innocent, without it. 

But, it may be asked, could not God have removed 
the temptation? This springs another question: 
Would it have been best, for infinite wisdom must 
always act for the best? This question is of equally 
easy solution with the foregoing one ; but to answer 
it fully would make this paper too long, and we 
must, therefore, leave the thoughtful reader to an- 
swer for himself, only suggesting that as each one 
of Adam's descendants would be like himself, a free 
agent, each might fall and be hopelessly involved 
without atonements were multiplied for individual 
cases; whereas, by laying this test upon him as 
a federal person or head, one atonement would have 
availed for all. But we do not now find man either 
happy or in Eden. Quite the reverse is true. What 
then? Either God is cruel, punishing the innocent 
and good, or man has abused his free agency and 
destroyed his normal relation to his Creator and 
become criminal, wretched, and lost his goodly 
heritage. The Bible represents the latter as the 
true alternative, and we ask, which is the more 
probable before the tribunal of human reason, and 
where, in all this, is the improbability and unreason- 
ableness of Mr. Beecher's faith? We think nothing 
can be more probable and reasonable. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 159 

It should be borne in mind that the Bible does not 
contemplate giving either a cosmogony or history 
of the world. These topics are only incidentally 
touched so far as is necessary for impressing and 
illustrating its two great primary objects. First, to 
impress the fact that God is the Creator of the 
world, and second, to emphasize the further, and to 
man the infinitely more important fact, that He ex- 
ercises a providential care and governmental sover- 
eignty over it; for if, like Epicurus's God, He does 
not do so, it is of little importance to us whether He 
made it or not, or, indeed, whether He exists or not. 
It is not our object in this paper to discuss the re- 
spective merits of Evolutionary and Biblical cos- 
mogony, nor whether the world has an atheistical 
or theistical paternity. We dismiss this part of Mr. 
Beecher's lecture as follows: If nothing can pro- 
duce something, and if a nonentity of intelligence 
can produce the highest order of intelligent crea- 
tures, then the world may have an atheistical evo- 
lutionary paternity, after the order of Haeckel. If 
it is more consistent with the lofty dignity and in- 
telligent grandeur of God to suppose that He started 
vital motion in a particle of sea slime, or protoplasm 
at the bottom of the ocean, and left it, in some in- 
credible way of its own, to accumulate force and take 
on divergency, so as to evolve our present beautiful 
and variegated world, after the lapse of thousands 
or millions of years; or that He busied Himself in 
that tardy way of world-building for such a length 
ii 



160 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

of time, then the world may have had a theistical 
evolutionary paternity, and man may have been hon- 
ored with an ape as his illustrious progenitor, in- 
tead of Adam, after the manner of Darwin. But if 
it is more consistent with the adorable and ineffable 
perfections of God to suppose that His manner of 
working in creation, not in providence, is forcibly 
illustrated in a single passage of Scripture — "Let 
there be light and there was light" — then it is neither 
incredible nor unreasonable that the world may have 
been made in six days and the "cosmoging" inci- 
dentally indicated in the Bible may be true, and 
man's model may have been his Maker: "Let us 
make man in our image, after our likeness," and 
Adam, not an ape, may have been his great progeni- 
tor, after the manner of Moses. Every finite mind, 
addressing itself to the question how existence came 
to be, must accept the inexplicable mystery that 
something must have existed from eternity, or that 
nothing has produced something, otherwise the evi- 
dence of sense, of self-consciousness, must both be 
repudiated. In accepting the former horn of the 
dilemma, we accept, as a matter of faith, that which 
is above reason, though reasonable. In accepting 
the latter, we accept that which is clearly against 
reason — an effect without a cause. Here Mr. 
Beecher and the writer are together, both believe in 
God as a great, good and intelligent first cause, and 
as the something from eternity; and more, he 
avows a belief in the Bible, not as the word of God, 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 161 

for he distinctly disavows that, but as an inspired 
volume, that is as having a degree of inspiration 
in it. He distinctly repudiates some of its doctrines 
and a number of its facts, and does not define the 
boundaries of his beliefs. He unequivocally de- 
clares his belief in the evolutionary origin of man, 
and fortifies his position by citing the Duke of 
Argyle, Wallace and Darwin in England, and Gray, 
Dana, LeConte, and Dr. McCosh in America, all of 
whom, he says, "are firm believers" with him, and 
some of them standards of Christian orthodoxy, for, 
he says, "Surely no one will accuse him (Dr. Mc- 
Cosh) of infidelity." Now, we pledge ourselves to 
show that belief in the Bible and in evolution are 
antagonisms that cannot possibly be harmonized. 
Says Mr. Beecher, "they (the German evolution- 
ists) even point to our ancestor. They say it was 
the ape." But he says, "The real belief of the evo- 
lutionist on this point is not that we descended from 
the ape, but that away back yonder in the process 
of evolution, from one germ branched out in one 
direction the form of life which became the ape, and 
in another direction branched out the form of life 
that became man." For our purpose it matters not 
which one of these theories we accept. One makes 
man the descendant of the ape, the other makes the 
ape and man descendants from a common sterps or 
root. What follows? 

1. If either is true the Bible history of man's 
creation is false, and if false in a history so detailed, 



162 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

explicit and declared as this, why may it not be false 
in any or all other cases ? 

2. The pre-eminence given him in his creation is 
the reason assigned all through both the Old and 
New Testament for God's special providential care 
of him ; bring him to the level of the brute, and the 
whole story is a baseless fiction. 

3. The Old Testament claims to be prophetic of 
the advent of the Son of God. The Jews are still ex- 
pecting the Messiah, predicted upon man's superior 
importance in the sight of God. The New Testa- 
ment claims to be His history, that the prophecies of 
the Old were fulfilled in the life, sufferings and 
death of Christ. What then ? If the German 
theory is correct, Christ, the Son of God, died to 
save the descendant of an ape, and if Mr. Beecher's 
theory is correct, He died to save something no bet- 
ter than an ape. 

Lastly, if either theory is correct, Christ was a 
wilful deceiver or crazy fanatic; or, if He was what 
He professed to be, the Son of God (I say it with 
reverence) He was a condescending Godman to die 
for the descendants of an ape, or His first cousin, 
and the ''beautiful story of the New Testament," as 
Mr. Beecher calls it, is a richly galvanized fiction. 

If the foregoing are logical deductions and evi- 
dences of Scriptural orthodoxy, the writer has no 
hesitation in admitting he is an infidel. 

Where are the links in the evolutionary develop- 
ments of Mr. Beecher's anthropoid germ from the 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 163 

time of this divergency up to man as he is? The 
humblest believer is never alarmed by great names 
when he is in company with the God of Truth. 

AN ANODYNE FOR FAESE FEARS 

Editor Advertiser : Dean Swift said he was a 
public benefactor who caused two blades of grass to 
grow where only one grew before, and we heartily 
agree with him, provided it is not nut or some other 
noxious grass. But as the true wealth of life does 
not consist in the physical, but in the intellectual and 
social enjoyments, we incline to think in these days 
of general darkness and gloom, that he who brings 
a smile to as many faces as your excellent paper has 
readers is entitled to a similar, or even greater dis- 
tinction. As to your correspondents who express 
great and grave fears lest Alabama will not be 
served by officers of first class capabilities because 
the salaries are too small to do this, we unhesitat- 
ingly classify them among public benefactors. The 
old Alchemists, it is true, failed in their industrious 
search after the elixir of life and to make their 
crucibles breed gold, but they found and did many 
other good things. So, if your correspondents fail 
to alarm the public with their fears, they make thou- 
sands smile while attempting it, which is far better. 

As fear was born of folly, or worse, and is said 
to be one of the torturing passions, and favors 



Written in 1880. 



164 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

should be reciprocal, a generous public who enjoy 
the smile should, if possible, ease the pain of its 
benefactors, although it should end this enjoyment, 
and to this end the following suggestions are made : 
Alabama has been a State since 1819, and no in- 
stance, we believe, can be cited in which she has suf- 
fered from this cause. As a whole she prides her- 
self upon her capable, patriotic and illustrious line 
of governors, legislators, judges and officers gener- 
ally, and thinks she compares favorably with any 
one of her thirty-seven sister States. Not long since 
one of her sons expressed great pride in the fact 
that her Supreme Court decisions were quoted as 
of almost, if not altogether, equal authority with 
those of Massachusetts, and everyone knows that 
Massachusetts heads the world in judicial and every 
other form of excellency, and Boston is the modern 
Athens. The past is the best, indeed the only index 
we have to the future. We feel embarrassed in 
calling the attention of our benefactors to these 
facts, because of the many pleasurable smiles with 
which they have favored us, and our sense of obliga- 
tion for them. We do not like to wound our friends 
by either reflecting upon their ignorance, disingenu- 
ousness or want of logical discernment, and yet, we 
see no other way to ease their fears. If they do not 
know the high standing of our officers in the past, 
and that the past is our best and only index to the 
future, then the necessities of our situation compel 
us to compromise their intelligence. If they do, 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 165 

and deny these truths, suspicion unavoidably falls 
upon their dignity; and, if admitting them, they 
repudiate the conclusion that our past experience 
gives us a reasonable assurance against danger at 
this point for the future, and that their fears are 
groundless, then, their discernment is disparaged. 
So, however disinterested this labor of love may be, 
we can have little hope for gratitude. 

Again, if it be admitted that Alabama has been 
served by first class officials, but it is urged that it 
has been done at a great sacrifice to them, and their 
pay has been largely in the honors of the service, 
our reply is, she has great cause to be thankful that 
she has had so many self-sacrificing, or, rather, 
honor-appreciating sons, and we ask, why should 
she fear that future generations will be more degen- 
erate, less patriotic and appreciative? Were there 
not twenty or more of her noble sons ready to sacri- 
fice themselves as wardens of her penitentiary but 
the other day ? 

The truth is, this logic of our alarmists will not 
work. Honor is only an inducement to the honor- 
able; money, to the mercenary. The greater the 
sacrifice, the greater the honor; the greater the 
money, the greater the mercenary motive. Large 
salaries are, therefore, not bids for officers of large 
heads and large hearts, but for those small in these 
respects, and only large in mercenary feelings and 
motives. They are premiums upon sloth and selfish- 
ness. The scramble for office is great enough now, 



166 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

and always has been since the organization of the 
State government. Increase the salaries and you 
stimulate the sordid, selfish, mercenary and mean to 
aspire to fill the offices. Suppose the salaries of the 
State officers from its organization down to the 
present time had been double what they have been, 
would the officers have been more honorable, disin- 
terested and efficient? No one believes it; on the 
contrary, it is extremely probable the standard 
would have been lowered by mean and mercenary 
motives. Starvation is one extreme, plethora is an- 
other. The good fortune of the State in securing 
the services of her ablest and best men in the past is 
conclusive evidence that she has occupied a happy 
mean, and if she will escape degeneracy in the fu- 
ture, let her contiuue to do so. 

Say to your panicky correspondents who are ring- 
ing the alarm bell, they are like an old tory in the 
Revolutionary War who had a johnny-cake in his 
coat pocket. While frightened and flying to a neigh- 
boring swamp, he imagined one of Marion's scouts 
close at his heels, the johnny-cake constantly flying 
up and slapping him behind. He thought the slap 
was from the scout's sword, and cried as he ran, "I 
surrender, I surrender, I surrender," and when he 
fell from exhaustion he found the johnny-cake was 
the only pursuing enemy, but his head, because of 
his false fears, was snowed over for life. We would 
not have these correspondents become prematurely 
old; they are too useful as comic writers. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 167 

THE EASTERN QUESTION 

Editor Advertiser : The Eastern question is 
one of absorbing interest to Europe, nor is it with- 
out profound interest in America. In Europe it is 
vital, in America it is more speculative, though by 
no means unsubstantial, for the interest of the great 
powers of the world is so connected that whatever 
materially affects one, healthfully or otherwise, 
more or less, sooner or later, affects the others. It 
may be assumed as a great providential axiom that 
the highest and best interest of all nations is pro- 
moted by a state of universal peace. Any prosperity 
growing out of a state of war to any nation, whether 
directly involved in it or not. in the highest sense 
cannot be healthful. It is a sort of spasmodic, un- 
natural prosperity, and viewing the world as a 
grand, complete whole, such prosperity is like that 
of one eye, ear, or arm in the human body that be- 
comes stronger because of the impairment or ex- 
tinction of the powers of the other. The world, it 
is true, is composed of parts, but parts so connected 
that they are intended to be, and are pervaded by 
one great intellectual, moral, social and commercial 
system and circulation, which vitalizes it. The 
unity of Creator argues a unity of creation, and a 
unity of creation argues mutual dependencies, and 
consequently a unity of interest. Hence, because of 
our geographical remoteness, though not directly 
and vitally interested in the peaceful solution of the 



168 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

Eastern question, we are indirectly, sympathetically 
and substantially so. 

Russia is now one of the greatest and most for- 
midable powers of the world. Her advancement 
has been both progressive and aggressive. When 
the grand conception and mighty energy of the 
brain and heart of Peter the Great gave her a con- 
solidated national existence, her intellectual, moral, 
social and civic condition was barbaric in the ex- 
treme; but the magic touch of his intellect and en- 
ergy, like the mythical touch of the tongue of the 
bear upon its young, gave her shape, and infused 
an intellectual, moral, social and civic vitality that 
has been developing its fruits since, until, though 
still in these respects far in the rear of some other 
nations, yet contemplating her where she was and 
where she is, one is struck with the contrast, as 
when contemplating a mole hill and an Alpine 
mountain or a glimmering taper with the noonday's 
sun. This is what we call progressive advance in 
its highest sense. 

It has been well said that "Peter civilized a set of 
barbarians, but remained a savage himself." He 
could, and did, control, subdue and elevate others, 
but he never could master himself. A hundred 
thousand lives, in his estimation, was a small price 
to pay to found a city, and his treatment of his un- 
fortunate son Alexis, though it is said he bathed 
his corpse in tears, if nothing else, stamp him, with 
all his greatness, forever an incorrigible barbarian. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 169 

Nevertheless, there was such an inspiration in his 
mighty genius and energy that it became diffused 
through and hereditary in the nation, and hence we 
see today, after a lapse of more than a century and 
a half, Russia animated by his spirit and aspiring to 
the attainment of the very end of his ambition. As 
a man he is dead, but his spirit lives, moves and 
beats as restlessly now, in every vein, artery and 
nerve of that mighty nation, as when in life. No 
man who ever lived stamped himself so powerfully 
and indelibly upon a nation as he did, and conse- 
quently her aggressive advancement has even ex- 
ceeded her progressive. Let us for a moment con- 
template it. Says Cotton, in his map published in 
1849 : "In 150 years she has advanced her frontier 
630 miles towards Stockholm, 700 miles towards 
Berlin and Vienna, 1,000 miles towards Teheran, 
Cabool and Calcutta, and 500 towards Constanti- 
nople." Since he wrote she has made further con- 
quests in Asia, and is now thundering at the very 
gates of Constantinople itself. Poland was dis- 
membered by three great robbers, of which she took 
the lion's share, and SuwarrofFs memorable ex- 
pression, "Order reigns in Warsaw," which meant 
that the subdued silence of death was there, was a 
graphic and emphatic way of expressing Russia's 
mercy to the Poles. Sweden, Turkey, China, 
Tartary and Persia have all been sliced — Sweden of 
more than half of her entire territory, and Turkey, 
before the late war, of as much as half of her Euro- 



170 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

pean possessions; but this, instead of satiating, has 
rather stimulated her appetite for further conquests. 
Accumulative power is productive of accumulative 
ambition and avarice. Russia's territorial posses- 
sions in Europe alone are equal to half of that grand 
division of the globe, and she stretches her gigantic 
limbs clear across northern Asia. Peter found her 
with fifteen millions, today she has about eighty 
millions of subjects, most of which increase is the 
result of conquest. Then her only port was Arch- 
angel, on the frozen ocean. He opened the Baltic 
and coveted the Sea of Marmora. One of the 
Queens of England said of herself : "When I am 
dead Calais will be found written on my heart." 
Peter died with the Dardanelles engraved on his. 
The inland situation of Russia is the only natural 
check upon her growing greatness. Her outlet 
through the Baltic is closed more than half the year 
by ice, and through the frozen ocean from Septem- 
ber to July; hence her natural political and com- 
mercial gravitation is in the direction of Constanti- 
nople, and once established there, her naval would 
be rapidly developed in correspondency with her 
military power, and she would eventually over- 
shadow and menace all Europe. The first Na- 
poleon said, "It is the natural seat or centre for Uni- 
versal Empire," and well may Europe be alarmed, 
and particularly England. 

Russia waged her late war with Turkey under the 
pretext ( for it was only a pretext, conquest was her 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 171 

real object) of protecting the oppressed Christians 
in Turkey. Our recollections of Poland and Si- 
beria must be blotted out before we can have much 
confidence in Russian humanitarianism and Chris- 
tian sympathy. If England had joined Russia be- 
fore a gun was fired in making that demand as a 
reasonable concession to modern civilization and the 
controlling Christian sentiment of the world, 
Turkey would have yielded it, and Russia would 
have lost her pretext, and at that time she dared not 
declare her real object. It would have startled all 
Europe, and Austria and England at least, and per- 
haps Italy, would have sprung to arms with Turkey. 
The throw of the dice for peace or war now is trans- 
ferred from London to Berlin, and Bismarck, with 
all his foresight and nerve, is embarrassed. Ger- 
many, like all the other great powers of Europe, is 
jealous of the growing greatness of Russia, the 
most aggressive and perhaps the least scrupulous of 
them all. Though Sir Edward Coke's quaint re- 
mark on corporations, that "they have no souls," 
seems to apply to them all, Russia's motto is "might 
makes right." How can Germany be otherwise 
than jealous, confronting her as she does, with only 
a land line between them of several hundred miles 
in extent? But Germany is as anxious to go out 
upon the German Ocean, through Belgium and Hol- 
land, as Russia is to go out upon the Mediterranean 
Sea, through Turkey. Bismarck, no doubt, wishes 
Russia's ambition defeated, but not by German 



172 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

agency, so that Russia may not be in the way of 
Germany's future designs on Belgium and Holland. 
Diplomatically he desires cordially to embrace 
Prince Gortschakoff, but in heart ardently hopes an- 
other will stab him under the fifth rib. Talleyrand, 
we believe, said ''diplomacy is the science of dis- 
simulation," and Bismarck is the master expert in it. 
England has lost her greatest opportunity, but the 
present one is greater than she will ever have in the 
future, to arrest the onward march of Russian am- 
bition and save herself from ruin. England is not a 
great power in point of landed possessions or num- 
bers in Europe, and her two hundred and forty mil- 
lions of population in her East India possessions do 
not correspondingly increase her military greatness 
or power. Indeed, by many it is thought they are 
a weakness. Her greatness is in her insular posi- 
tion, her foresight, her courage, her energy, her 
perseverance, her navy, and last, but not least, her 
wealth, for it furnishes the "sinews of war." She 
wields a steel sword well, but, if possible, her gold 
sword better. It was with the latter, infinitely more 
than the former, that she overthrew the first Na- 
poleon. She draws wealth from all the world, for 
she is its greatest merchant and carrier. But her 
golden sword is forged for her more in her East 
India possessions than, perhaps, all the world be- 
sides — they emphatically breed gold for her, thence 
flows her Pactolus. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 173 

Let Russia become established at Constantinople, 
and if her past history foreshadows her future, it 
will not be long before she will develop a formidable 
naval establishment at the head of the Persian Gulf, 
and absorb Persia, which is now peopled with a 
feeble, degenerate race. Syria will naturally and in- 
evitably be one of the fruits of her establishment 
upon the Dardanelles, which will bring her by a 
short land march within reach of the Isthmus of 
Suez Canal. Then, through Persia and the Persian 
Gulf, she could attack England's East India posses- 
sions, both by land and sea, and through Syria cut 
the Isthmus of Suez Canal, and the main artery of 
England's commercial life is severed and its citadel 
overthrown, and her national greatness gone for- 
ever. Established there, and in a quarter of a cen- 
tury Austria would be as little formidable to her as 
Turkey is today, and the rapid evolutions of destiny, 
developed by her energy, courage, perseverance and 
power, would amaze the world! Hence England's 
greatest opportunity to secure the future is now; 
while China, Independent Tartary and Persia lie as 
so many fortresses between Russia and her East 
India possessions; while Turkey, though prostrate, 
is not utterly annihilated, and is positioned between 
her and the Mediterranean; while Austria is com- 
paratively formidable, and Russia is without a 
naval establishment either upon the Persian Gulf or 
the Mediterranean Sea. Russia does not contem- 
plate taking the daring step of absorbing all of 



174 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

European Turkey now, but her object is by that 
San Stefano treaty to establish a number of little 
principalities, and to so emasculate Turkey that by 
their very weakness and dependency they may, as 
ripe fruit, from time to time, drop into her lap, 
when Europe is less nervous and alert. 

It may be of interest to the intelligent reader to 
indulge a few speculations upon the mode of carry- 
ing on the war, if it occurs. It is our opinion, if it 
is confined to England and Russia (which is very 
improbable), that it will be an exception to most of 
late wars. It will not be short and decisive. The 
Baltic and frozen ocean, when not closed by ice, will 
be hermetically sealed up by the British navy. In 
a short time Russia will not be able to float a ship 
upon the high seas, and she will be constantly 
threatened and occasionally fiercely attacked at 
every vulnerable point. England, in the nature of 
things, must be the attacking power, and Russia 
must stand upon the defensive, for she has no means 
of reaching her antagonist. She cannot reach her 
in Asia without provoking war with an intervening 
power, and England's navy is an insuperable barrier 
in Europe. England will force Russia, by alarms 
of alliances and attacks, to keep her ranks full and 
her expenditures at the highest point, and she will 
wait for inertia to breed dissatisfaction, and ex- 
posure and disease to do the work of the sword, and 
for Russian finances to break down. Russia dare 
not disarm, even in part. England will have much 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 175 

less of life exposed for disease to feed upon, and 
her credit is the best in the world, and even now, 
Russia's is far below par. We are not informed 
whether Russia is or is not pledged against priva- 
teering, but if she is not, as she will have no ports 
of her own open to send privateers out, and every 
neutral port will swarm with vigilant, sleepless Brit- 
ish spies the world over, she can hardly make this 
intrumentality effective for offensive warfare; and 
if not, British commerce will move on almost as 
uninterrupted as it is now to recuperate her more 
than usually taxed finances by the war, while Russia 
will have none, save inland trade. The above be- 
ing her policy, she is virtually carrying on war now, 
without the annoyance of privateers, and Russia is 
doing the very thing England wants done, swelling 
her ranks with more food for disease, and exhaust- 
ing her finance by increased armaments. 

But it is more probable Austria will be drawn 
into the war, Turkey will be put upon her feet again, 
Greece and Italy may take a hand, and Persia, 
China and Tartary in Asia may be stimulated to 
hostility, as they are sore from a feast of the North- 
ern Bear not long since upon their flesh. Internal 
insurrection may be excited, and Russia may find 
herself convulsed with an intestinal earthquake and 
literally girdled with a river of belligerent fire, for 
who can forecast the affect of British intrigue, 
perseverance, energy and gold ? 

12 



176 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

In conclusion, we are of the opinion war is in- 
evitable if Russia does not submit to such modifica- 
tion of that San Stefano treaty as virtually annuls 
the real object she had in view in undertaking the 
late war. 

LAWMAKERS 

Editor Hkrald: The public mind is intensely 
aroused and profoundly inquisitive at this time in 
regard to a sound policy and the wisest measures for 
legislation. Would it not be well to consider the es- 
sential requisites for a wise and useful lawmaker 
and the components of the most perfect legislature; 
for the wisdom or folly of legislation is as natural 
a sequent of the character of those who make the 
laws as the purity or impurity of a stream is of the 
fountain from which it flows. 

The first and fundamental requisite for a law- 
maker is strong, common sense; brilliancy is orna- 
mental, but non-essential. 

Second, he should be equally above the seductive 
influence of flattery and the purchasing power of 
money. These are the bane of nations — witness the 
degeneracy of the Areopagus and Senate before the 
fall of Greece and Rome. 

Third, he should be thoroughly identified in inter- 
est with his constituency, if possible, so much so 
that he cannot injure them, either by negligence or 
wilfulness, without injuring himself, nor benefit 



Written July 10, 1890. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 177 

himself in his representative capacity without bene- 
fiting them. Self interest, not selfishness, is the 
prime motive power in human action. God recog- 
nizes this truth when He offers heaven as the re- 
ward of the virtuous, and threatens hell as the pun- 
ishment of negligent and vicious action. 

Fourth, he should be directly interested in, and 
practically acquainted with, some one of the legiti- 
mate departments of business, and should be its 
special representative on the legislative floor, be- 
cause he is experimentally acquainted with its wants. 
But he should be a man of broad, comprehensive 
views and sympathies, capable of recognizing and 
utilizing the truth that all the legitimate departments 
of business are, more or less, directly or indirectly 
dependent upon each other, and therefore, if he 
would intelligently and successfully promote the in- 
terest of the department he specially represents, he 
must heartily co-operate with others representing 
in the legislative body all the other departments of 
legitimate business. In other words, every legis- 
lator should be a specialist in some one of the legiti- 
mate departments of business, and there should be a 
hearty spirit of co-operation in all, so that the wants 
of each department might be treated with the most 
consummate legislative skill. Of course, experi- 
ence in legislation is a recommendation, and tends 
to perfection, but of this we say nothing, as all legis- 
lators must, of necessity, start as novices. 



178 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

Having suggested as briefly as possible, some of 
the essential requirements of a lawmaker, we are 
now to consider the proper components of a legis- 
lature and the most effective means of enforcing 
law. It is our great, if not peculiar pride, that ours 
is a government of the people, by and for the people. 
The starting point of government is law. Law, if 
rightful, is nothing more nor less than the expressed 
will of the people. Civilized society must, of neces- 
sity, have a complicated business machinery, and for 
convenience and efficiency, it must be divided into 
different departments, hence there are unavoidably 
many and varied occupations which should be as far 
as possible fairly and fully represented in the legis- 
lative department of government, in proportion to 
the importance of the business of each occupation 
and the number of citizens engaged in it. Practi- 
cal manufacturers, lawyers, farmers, doctors, bank- 
ers, merchants, mechanics, etc., should all be there, 
each friendly to all, but having an individual inter- 
est in or special experimental acquaintance with 
some one occupation and its difficulties, so as, if pos- 
sible, to bring the knowledge of a specialist and the 
skill of an expert to the relief of the business of each 
occupation and consequently the largest degree of 
vigor and health to all. 

This rule should also be observed in the enforce- 
ment, as well as the enactment of law. The offices 
necessary for the administration of law should be 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 179 

distributed among the different occupations. The 
most wholesome law unenforced is worthless. 

As far as possible, let each occupation, in pro- 
portion to the number following it and the import- 
ance of its business to society, have its officers in 
position to see that the law enacted for its benefit is 
faithfully and energetically enforced; for if every 
limb in the body politic is thus kept in vigorous 
health by the force of personal and individual inter- 
est, undoubtedly, the whole body will be so. Class 
office holding should be as odious as class legisla- 
tion. Our fathers wisely separated the judicial and 
executive departments of government; but, if we 
have not placed them in the hands of the same men, 
we have practically consolidated them in one or two 
classes or professions, hence these are morbidly 
plethoric, while the others are languishing and dying 
with dropsy. Yea, the veins and arteries of these 
are literally bursting with rich, red, fevered blood, 
while those of other occupations are in collapse with 
cold, colorless serum. 

THE LAW'S DELAYS 

Gentlemen of the Legislature: We live in 
an age of telegraphs and railroads, which means 
saving time and money; for, says one, time is 
money; says another, a penny saved is a penny 
made; and, we will add, justice long delayed is 
often grievous injustice when obtained. 

Written January 14, 1891. 



180 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

The above has been suggested by the law's delays. 
We want both economy and dispatch in the require- 
ments and administration of the law. 

First. In the day of English illiteracy, when some 
of "My Lords" did not know the alphabet, legal 
instruments were drawn by professional draftsmen, 
who charged by the word, and to increase fees 
multiplied words and repetitions, and their patrons, 
who in many instances could not count the words, 
much less read the instrument and detect the imposi- 
tion, were completely in the power of these design- 
ing, selfish vampires. These forms have been trans- 
mitted to us by way of inheritance, so that forms, 
somewhat modified, hundreds of years old, abound- 
ing in redundant verbiage, are still in use among us, 
and our professionals, true to the instincts of their 
professional progenitors multiply words and ex- 
press, maybe, in a hundred lines what might be ex- 
pressed with equal clearness and much greater pre- 
cision in ten, and charge accordingly, and the record- 
ing fees are consequently sometimes tenfold more 
than they should be. 

As a remedy for this shame to our progressive 
age, we ask your honorable body cannot a form of 
every necessary legal instrument be drawn express- 
ing clearly the legal requirements to give it full ef- 
fect without any redundant verbiage, and cannot 
this be published in the code, so that men of good, 
common sense, with a plain business education 
could in most instances at least fill them up and 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 181 

thereby save thousands of dollars in lawyers' and 
recording fees? If not, why not? 

Second. Legal technicalities, demurrers, etc., 
often not only delay but absolutely defeat the ends 
of justice. Cases of the clearest equity are often 
thrown out of court and never heard upon their 
merits. One is now vividly before the mind's eye 
of the writer. Besides, justice is often so long de- 
layed by these dilatory pleas that recovery is had of 
a just debt just in time to buy a shroud for the 
claimant, and he dies robbed of his rights for years, 
and after his lawyers are paid his heirs get nothing, 
and his debtor is bankrupt by fees and cost. Wit- 
ness the celebrated Drover's suit in Virginia, which 
lasted over twenty years and ruined both parties 
to it. 

Now, gentlemen of the legislature, in view of the 
foregoing facts and others which we have not space 
to state, should not a law be passed requiring every 
case to be heard and adjudicated upon its merits, 
and to make it effective, we respectfully suggest the 
following provisions, viz : 

Whereas, It is made the duty of the presiding 
judge to see to it that no dilatory plea is enter- 
tained; and 

( WherEas, (like the cuttle fish which inks the 
water that he may escape detection) dilatory pleas 
are used by counsel to speciously magnify services 
and increase fees; and 



182 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

Wh^rkas, He is the principal if not sole bene- 
ficiary; therefore, be it 

Enacted, That in every case in which a dilatory 
plea is used, whether successfully or otherwise, the 
cost shall be doubled or quadrupled and taxed upon 
the counsel and judge, and each be required to pay 
half of said cost. 

Our subject reminds us forcibly of an anecdote 
we once heard told of an old lawyer who had a fam- 
ily accession of a young lawyer as a son-in-law. 
The old lawyer gave his son-in-law a case in chan- 
cery. He put his young energy behind it and 
quickly got judgment, and disposed of it and re- 
ported progress and asked his father-in-law for an- 
other case, who with astonishment replied : "Why 
you fool ; you haven't sense enough to practice law. 
I expected you to live off of that case a half dozen 
years at least." Unnecessary delays thus outrage 
property rights. 

In criminal cases these unnecessary delays are an 
outage upon another of the three fundamental rights 
guaranteed by the constitution — personal liberty — 
and are a constant menace to public safety in al- 
most necessitating mobs in cases of aggravated and 
unendurable crime. 

A startling idea rises up in the interest of econ- 
omy, which, like the ghost of Banquo, will not down, 
in connection with the above chain of thought, and 
which we will state at the risk of being suspected of 
lunacy. It is this : Might not the legislation above 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 183 

indicated so simplify the adminstration of the law 
that strong, practical, common sense, with a clear 
discrimination between right and wrong, would be 
quite as good a recommendation for the judiciary as 
to be a learned disciple of Blackstone? 

CARRYING CONCEALED WEAPONS AND 
A STILL GREATER EVIL 

Editor Advertiser : It is very gratifying to me 
to see the horror with which our legislature looks 
upon the unlawful taking of human life, and the 
anxiety manifested to arrest this evil by preventing 
the carrying of concealed weapons. To prevent the 
unlawful killing of human beings has been a very 
difficult subject of legislation from the days of 
Moses down to the present time, and will be, so long 
as good men are subject to quick passion, and bad 
ones cherish malice. Notwithstanding all the sym- 
pathy the writer entertains with the object of the 
legislature, he has very grave doubts whether vehe- 
ment legislation against the carrying of concealed 
weapons is not greatly over-estimated as a pre- 
ventive of the evil, and does not in some instances 
and respects put the good to a disadvantage and at 
the mercy of the bad. 

1. Men have different degrees of physical force, 
and the strong are often inclined to domineer 
over the weak. The apprehension of a concealed 
weapon, which makes all equally strong, prevents 
the indulgence of this spirit, and tends to peace ; re- 



184 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

move this apprehension, and an ungenerous man of 
superior physical force is encouraged to indulge it, 
and the weaker party must suffer oppression or vio- 
late the law and carry concealed weapons (and thus 
be put wrongfully in the wrong) or take refuge 
from it behind as huge a pocket knife as the law 
will allow, and with the encouragement given to 
bullying by removing the apprehension of con- 
cealed weapons, it is a question whether more life 
will not be destroyed by deep reaching pocket 
knives than by carrying pistols. 

2. The worst elements of society, in defiance of 
the law, will carry concealed weapons, and is not the 
tendency of such legislation to disarm law-abiding 
citizens and to put them more at the mercy of the 
law-defying ? 

3. Some classes are peculiarly exposed. Doctors, 
for instance, are compelled to visit all sorts of 
places, and at all hours of the night. Will you dis- 
arm them and put them at the mercy of midnight 
prowlers? Now, they have two ways of benefiting 
society, sometimes by killing and sometimes by cur- 
ing. Will you curtail their usefulness? Besides, 
civil and municipal officers are getting distressingly 
numerous, and many of them are allowed to carry 
weapons. The law presumes, of course, they will 
only carry and use them lawfully, but experience 
shows that they often exceed that presumption, and 
carry and use them in cases not official, but purely 
personal. The safety, good order and efficiency of 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 185 

a government depends not only on legal checks and 
balances, but moral also. Now, how far the appre- 
hension of concealed weapons may tend to conserve 
and command the peace, with overbearing, bullying 
and belligerent peace officers (for, unfortunately, 
we have such) is an interesting question. 

4. May not the removal of this apprehension en- 
courage highway robbery ? Only the other day one 
of our best citizens was knocked senseless from his 
buggy and robbed; and if this occurs as the law 
now stands, reduce the apprehension, and will not 
the crime be correspondingly increased? It is very 
problematical with the writer whether the apprehen- 
sion of concealed weapons is not a much greater 
conservator of the peace against assault and high- 
way robberies than all the fines, imprisonments, jails 
and penitentiaries known to the law. There are ex- 
ceptions, but as a rule, professional evil doers are 
cowardly. The legislature may well beware, lest 
hasty and violent legislation against this evil (for 
evil it is) betray them into a still greater one — that 
of uncovering its best and setting a trap for its law- 
abiding citizens, and giving immunity and license to 
its worst and most law-defying. Too violent an 
action and too much haste may be as disastrous as 
the hurry of a kind-hearted but thoughtless woman, 
who to warm a few shivering travelers explodes a 
can of kerosene and burns up a city. 

The truth is, Mr. Editor, nine-tenths of the mur- 
ders that occur are not primarily chargeable to the 



186 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

habit of carrying concealed weapons. Drunkenness 
is the responsible cause. Let the legislature, if it 
can, legislate strong drink out of the State; or if it 
must remain domesticated among us, cork and seal 
it up hermetically, to be only uncorked and unsealed 
by a conscientious doctor for medicinal purposes, 
and concealed weapons are comparatively harmless. 
The writer believes the carrying of concealed weap- 
ons should be checked and regulated by the best 
safeguards that can be thrown around it, but con- 
scientiously doubts whether the removal of the ap- 
prehension of danger from them from the public 
mind is promotive of the peace of society and its 
best interests. In justice to himself he begs to add 
that for thirty years he has not carried concealed 
weapons, but sincerely believes that he has been 
safer with this apprehension upon the public mind 
than he would have been without it. 

WHY THE DIFFERENCE? 

Is Loading the Muscle for Kieung as Reprehen- 
sible as Loading a Pistol? 

Editor Advertiser: Plain, unpretending men 
will, like editors and others, sometimes speculate, 
and even dare to spring questions in ethics and law 
for thinking men and good citizens to solve. The 
late fisticuff between Sullivan and Kilrain, in a 
neighboring State, has suggested one to me, which I 



Written September 28, 1889. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 187 

respectfully submit to you and an intelligent public 
for solution, viz : What is the difference in morals, 
and what should be the difference in law, between 
charging a man's pistol with explosive, force to dis- 
able or kill another and charging his muscles with 
elastic force for the same purpose, and if the man 
is disabled or killed by the latter force, what is the 
difference to him, to society and to his family, if 
he have one ? 

All recognized legal authorities are agreed that 
premeditation always aggravates crime. Malice is 
said to be an essential element of murder, which is 
the highest crime known to the law ; premeditation 
is its leading constituent. Yet, with malice per se, 
which is essentially a degrading emotion or feeling, 
the law has nothing to do. The law does not pro- 
pose to make a good man of a malicious one by 
hanging him, but to prevent him repeating the crime 
and to intimidate others from following his ex- 
ample. In brief, the primary object of all penal law 
is to suppress all overt acts forbidden by the law. 
It does not hang a man because he is malicious, but 
because he commits the overt act of the aggravated 
homicide. On the contrary, it protects the most 
malicious man with the same vigilance and penal 
sanction as it does the most virtuous, so long as his 
malice remains personal emotion or feeling. The 
moral law holds a man for murder who meditates 
it; human law holds him innocent until the overt 
act; the former deals with the state of the heart, 



188 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

the latter confines itself to the act; hence human 
law has nothing to do with malice per se, or as a 
vicious emotion. No human law does, or can, ag- 
gravate crime, and its sole object is to protect so- 
ciety against its evil effects by preventing it. 

Having premised this much, we recur to the ques- 
tion, what is the difference in morals, and what 
should be the difference in law, between charging a 
man's pistol with explosive force to disable or kill 
another and charging his muscles with elastic force 
for the same purpose, and if a man is disabled or 
killed by the latter force what is the difference to 
him, to society, and to his family, if he has one? 

In a fisticuff, like that between Sullivan and Kil- 
rain, if a man is disabled or killed it is claimed by 
way of extenuating the crime that there was no 
malice ; yet there was the most aggravated premedi- 
tation, but, as we have seen, with malice per se the 
law has nothing to do in punishing crime; that on 
the contrary the law protects the most malicious, 
with the same vigilance and penal sanctions as it 
does the most virtuous. Now, if all recognized au- 
thorities are agreed that premeditation always ag- 
gravates crime (and we think no competent jurist 
will question this assumption) then the irresistible 
inference is that this aggravation, in most cases, is 
infinitely greater in charging the muscles with elas- 
tic force to disable or kill a man, if the latter be 
necessary to win a pugilistic victory, than to charge 
a pistol with explosive force to gain a victory in an 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 189 

ordinary encounter; for to charge a pistol is the 
work of a few moments, or if protracted for days 
or weeks, or even months, in the pressure of other 
matters, the mind is largely occupied with them and 
only occasionally recurs to the impending ren- 
counter. But in the case of the pugilist there is not 
only premeditated intention to break the law, but 
it is continuous and sufficiently protracted to become 
habitual. The pugilist has before his mind for 
months the fixed purpose to set at defiance the law 
by setting an example, which, if generally imitated, 
would ovethrow civilization itself and turn society 
into an Aceldama. He deliberately determines to 
store up and use force in doing that which the law 
explicitly forbids and punishes as a high crime, to 
the extent of not only endangering the limbs, but the 
taking of another's life, if necessary to attain his 
end, viz : the victory of a bruiser. His thoughts by 
day and dreams by night are of the most effective 
tricks and blows to win a brutal victory, at which 
good taste and refined sensibilities revolt. The pugi- 
list ceases to eat, drink, sleep and exercise, that un- 
der the ordination of divine Providence he may pre- 
serve life and recuperate force to be legitimately 
expended for good ; but he does all these under the 
hourly supervision and daily direction of an expert 
trainer, that he may surcharge his muscles with 
elastic force to violate law and endanger life. It is 
safe to say no other crime against law and order is 
so aggravated by systematic, continuous, protracted, 



190 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

habitual premeditation as this is. As we have said, 
premeditation is the leading constituent of malice. 
Why, Mr. Editor, hateful as it is, malice is an 
emotional force, which may be apologetically plead 
in comparison with the case under consideration. 
The malicious may say I was irresistibly impelled by 
malice and revenge to break the law and endanger 
or destroy life; but what can the pugilist say, but 
that I did both, by a deliberate resolve, without even 
a malicious or revengeful impulse as an excuse? 
All good men are agreed in vehemently condemning 
the man who deliberately loads his pistol to disable 
or kill his fellow man without provocation. Can 
you, Mr. Editor, or an intelligent public, answer the 
foregoing question and show why there should not 
be the same unanimity and the same penalty, too, in 
case a man loads his muscles under the same cir- 
cumstances and for the same unlawful purpose ? Be 
it said in shame to our civilization, Sullivan is now 
announced for Congress. 

THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT 

IN THE CASE OF BALDWIN v. 

KOUNS, REVIEWED 

The late decision of the Supreme Court in the 
case of Baldwin v. Kouns has attracted more than 
usual attention and provoked more than ordinary 
comment. 



Written in 1887. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 191 

All are agreed that it is characterized by the 
learning and logic which uniformly mark the de- 
cisions of that court and that it clearly disposes of 
the issue between the contestants; but many con- 
clude, for the public good, the decision under the 
circumstances, should have comprehended much 
more than that, and hence that it is wanting in a 
comprehensive, sound public policy. 

The paramount object of the legislature in mak- 
ing it a misdemeanor for an engineer like Mr. 
Kouns and other specially mentioned railroad offi- 
cers to act as such, without a certificate from certain 
other officers, appointed by the Governor, showing 
that they were not disabled by color blindness was, 
unquestionably, the protection of human life, and as 
this also gave additional protection to railroad 
property, by lessening the chances of collisions, it 
wisely and justly taxed the railroad with reasonable 
cost for the necessary examination of said officers. 
The legislature last of all dreamed of depriving any 
good citizens of the privilege of the following of 
a legitimate calling, or punishing him for doing so, 
if his vision was such that he could do so with- 
out endangering public safety and the property of 
others. Nor did it dream of depriving any good 
citizen of the right of property which he has in his 
professional skill, or jeopardizing it, nor of embar- 
rassing railroad operations. The decision clearly 
recognizes engineering as a legitimate calling. Mr. 
Kouns is one of its experienced professionals; the 
13 



192 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

penalty of a misdemeanor is suspended over him, 
unless he first applied for and obtained, from a 
proper officer, a certificate that he is not disabled by 
color blindness. He applied to Dr. Baldwin, a 
properly qualified officer, refused to pay the fee for 
examination, as the lex script a devolved payment 
upon the railroads, but asked to be examined and 
demanded the necessary certificate. The doctor re- 
fused the certificate unless the fee was first paid, and 
the decision of the court is, that Mr. Kouns has done 
all that the law requires of him and mandamus 
must be granted. 

Not having seen a brief and knowing nothing of 
the case, except that we have read in the papers, we 
presume Dr. Baldwin refused the certificate for the 
following reasons, and perhaps others more poten- 
tial : First, that his professional skill is as much his 
property and is of as real value as any visible prop- 
erty he owns, and that the legislature that enacted 
the law had no right and no intention to jeopardize 
or to destroy its value, or give the benefit of it to 
another without compensation to him; second, that 
both the officer and railroad were beneficiaries by 
the officer being duly qualified, the one getting his 
pay for services rendered and the other the means 
of operating the road and increased security for 
property; that he was not a beneficiary; that his 
fees were only incidental to the benefit of both the 
officer and the railroad, and that while the lex 
scripta pointed primarily to the railroad for his pay, 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 193 

it was not the intention of the legislature to ex- 
clude the law of justice and equity, which with equal 
certainty, as between him and the party demanding 
the certificate, pointed to the latter as a secondary 
or ultimate security, and therefore, in righting him- 
self he wronged neither party, but benefited both 
and carried out the honest intention of the legisla- 
ture, which was that he should be paid a reasonable 
equivalent for his services ; third, that the examina- 
tion and certificate were both the product or result 
of his labor and a professional skill which had cost 
him much to acquire, and consequently his property 
right in them was as absolute as it was possible for 
it to be in any property, and that another could not, 
under the forms of any just and constitutional law, 
seize and appropriate them to his benefit without 
compensation. 

It is admitted in the decision that "a public officer 
is, beyond controversy, entitled to compensation for 
his services." But it is held in the decision that the 
examiners accepted the appointment with a knowl- 
edge of the provisions of the statute, and they take 
it cum onere, and we will add, to cover the whole 
ground, if they are not satisfied they can easily re- 
sign ; but this seems to be an extreme alternative, to 
require the examiners to resign and lose all the pos- 
sible benefits of the office to save one of the bene- 
ficiaries three dollars, if the other should not pay it. 
The last quotation must be taken with some grains 
of allowance, to wit : "The examiners accepted the 



194 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

appointment with a knowledge of the provisions of 
the statute, and they take it cum onere." 

We are aware that ignorance of the law is no excuse 
before the law, but it is nevertheless true if all knew 
the meaning and intent of the law we would have no 
further need of courts to expound the law. It is 
not at all presumable that there was a shadow of 
doubt upon the mind of the legislature, when it de- 
volved the duty upon the railroads to pay the ex- 
aminers, but that it was constitutional to do so. Yet 
the railroads and their attorneys have decided that 
the law is unconstitutional, and have refused to pay, 
and that decision is practically in force, and will re- 
main so until the Supreme Court shall annul it, if it 
ever does. Now, if the concentrated wisdom of the 
State, composed largely of the ablest lawyers in the 
State, could not enact a law above the suspicion of 
unconstitutionality, is it not assuming too much for 
the examiners, to say that "they accepted the ap- 
pointment with a knowledge of the provisions of the 
statute and they took it cum onere"? How could 
they know, if the legislature did not, whether it is 
or is not constitutional? This brings us back to 
the leading idea in the first part of this article, that 
while this decision settled the immediate issue be- 
tween the contestants, under the circumstances, it 
should have comprehended much more than that 
and hence it is wanting in a comprehensive, sound 
public policy. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 195 

We are well aware that it is the custom of the 
courts to narrow their decisions down to a point or 
two, as in this case, but there are exceptional cases. 
The decision rendered by Judge Taney in the cele- 
brated Dred Scott case is a notable one, and if the 
broad patriotism and sound public policy which ani- 
mated it had been accepted, untold misfortunes 
might have been averted. 

The court, at the conclusion of its decisions, says : 
"Neither party (neither Baldwin nor Kouns) is in 
a position to assail the constitutionality of the stat- 
ute, both claiming and asserting under it as a valid 
enactment. We have therefore not considered the 
constitutionality of any of its provisions, and do not 
wish to be understood as intimating any opinion. 
We have assumed its validity as between the parties 
to this proceeding, solely for the purpose of this 
decision." 

What! does the implied constitutionality of a 
law, by parties claiming rights under it, so far make 
it so as to authorize the Supreme Court of the State 
to assume that it is so, and under that assumption, to 
decide issues of law and rights between them? Un- 
questionably, a law is or is not unconstitutional as 
between litigants, with or without any implied or 
declared admission, or claims on their part under it, 
and it seems to us the first duty of the court, if the 
law under which they are contesting has a cloud of 
unconstitutionality hanging over it, is to clear it 
away, and then proceed to decide the particular is- 



196 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

sue, more especially when, as in this case, the de- 
nial of third parties (not present, it is true, in these 
pleadings) of the constitutionality, but which vitally 
involves the interest of one of the contestants, has 
provoked the very litigation which is before the 
court; for if the railroads had admitted the consti- 
tutionality of the law and proceeded to do their duty 
under it, Dr. Baldwin would not have refused the 
certificate, nor Mr. Kouns asked for a mandamus. 
Nor is it to be always inferred that parties admit 
the constitutionality of a law because they obey or 
litigate for their rights under it ; for a good citizen 
must obey an unconstitutional law and contest for 
his rights under it, until it is repealed by the legis- 
lature or annulled by a decision of the Supreme 
Court. Again : The decision of the constitutional- 
ity or unconstitutionality of the law should have been 
founded in a comprehensive, sound public policy. 
It should have notified all examiners whether or not 
the railroads were bound to pay, and shut the door 
first, against further uncertainty and litigation upon 
that point, and, second, many and increasing pos- 
sible wrongs; for if the law is unconstitutional and 
examiners have no recourse, as the decision declares, 
except upon the railroads, they must lose their fees 
for all services rendered until the question of consti- 
tutionality or otherwise is decided; and lastly, if by 
general consent all the examiners should resign and 
others refuse to accept appointment, for the reason 
which caused the present examiners to vacate, trans- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 197 

portation, for a time, might be greatly embarrassed, 
if not suspended, and the commerce of more States 
than one suffer great loss; hence it is wanting in 
comprehensive, sound public policy. 

THE EQUITABLE SIDE OF MURDER 

Editor Advertiser : Ours is an inquisitive age. 
We accept nothing as true or right simply because 
it is hoary with age, or because our fathers have 
said it. So far as the writer is informed, all civil- 
ized governments have either destroyed wilful mur- 
derers or made themselves the beneficiaries of their 
crimes ; but he is inclined to think that an imperative, 
equitable obligation has been from time immemorial, 
either overlooked, or ignored in doing so, and our 
State is no exception to the rule. What does a 
government give or promise good citizens, as com- 
pensation for the right and power of taxation it ex- 
ercises over them? Is it not protection of life, lib- 
erty and property ? What else do they expect, or re- 
ceive? Now, in multiplied instances, nearly, if not 
all, the capital which supports an excellent, devoted 
wife, a true and tender mother, with perhaps half a 
dozen helpless, needy children, is deposited in the 
brain and muscle of the husband and father. From 
this source of revenue they are hourly sheltered from 
the pitiless storm and draw their daily bread. When 
a murderer strikes down such a man he not only 
kills a fellow man, but destroys all of the capital of 
the wife, mother and children as completely as if it 



198 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

had been in a material form, and as an incendiary he 
had applied the torch and burned it up. The crime 
is compounded of murder and incendiarism. The 
family are not only bereft, but reduced to the ex- 
tremist poverty, and the State, it is true, not from 
delinquency, but inability, has utterly failed to per- 
form her part of the compact with the deceased tax- 
payer. Still the effect is the same to him and his 
family as if it had been from delinquency. What 
then? Should the State punish the murderer with 
death? We think not. To assign no other of many 
good and sufficient reasons, this is bad economy, for 
it destroys his labor which is, or may be, made to 
produce capital. Nor should the State make itself 
the beneficiary of its own short coming by pocketing 
the product of the murderer's labor; but the crime, 
as far as possible, should be made to work a transfer 
of capital from the deceased husband and father's 
brain and muscle to those of the murderer, and the 
State should hold him to labor for life, as the slave 
of the dead man's family, paying over to them quar- 
terly, or annually, every dollar earned by his labor 
over and above indemnifying the State for expenses 
in doing so. This, we think, is an imperative obli- 
gation. If any family which has lost a husband and 
father by a murderer's hand, because of favorable 
pecuniary circumstances, or otherwise, should re- 
fuse to receive it, then let it escheat to the State. 
More; if the murderer is a man of means (while his 
family should not be impoverished, for they are in- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 199 

nocent parties) we see no inequity in confiscating a 
certain percentum of his property for the benefit of 
the wife, mother and children he has bereft and in 
many instances plunged into extreme poverty. The 
idea of being made the life-long slave of the mur- 
dered man's family and such a confiscation would, 
we think, be much more terrible and intimidating 
to many proud evil doers than death, or the ordi- 
nary life imprisonment, and would accomplish the 
primary object of criminal law, which is to prevent 
crime, more effectually, than any other penalty 
which can be suggested or inflicted. 

GUITEAU 

Editor Advertiser: Perhaps no living man 
shares less of the sympathy of his fellows than Gui- 
teau. If he is of sound mind and is a responsible 
moral agent, this exclusion is just (as in the case of 
Arnold, for betraying his country), for there is not 
a single extenuating circumstance in his case. If, on 
the other hand, he is not, no man deserves to be 
pitied more than he. This question must properly 
and of necessity be referred to a court and jury, and 
they will have a most trying, delicate and re- 
sponsible duty to perform. No trial that has ever 
occurred in the world has attracted more attention 
than it will ; not even the trial of Warren Hastings 
before the British House of Lords. The eye of the 



Written September 29, 1881. 



200 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

civilized world will be upon it and more or less 
prejudiced against the real or supposed criminal. 
The judge and jury, if they show themselves worthy 
of the occasion and do their duty grandly, will have 
no ordinary struggle within themselves to rise above 
their own personal prejudices, and, if convinced that 
Guiteau is not a responsible moral agent, they will 
require almost superhuman moral courage to face 
the public clamor for vengeance and make a finding 
of acquittal. If justice properly tempered with 
mercy demands it, is human nature competent for 
so grand a work ? The occasion calls loudly for an 
Aristides, a Zaleucus, a Sir Matthew Hale, or a 
Marshal — a man who will neither compromise jus- 
tice by a sickly mercy or a vengeful severity. 

We frankly confess that we have quite as little 
sympathy with Sergeant Mason as with Guiteau. 
Guiteau betrayed only the general confidence that is 
reposed in every good citizen, for he was not a spe- 
cial guard over the President's life; he committed 
an act grievously wrong within itself, but whether 
he is criminal in the sight of God and good men 
turns, as we have said, upon his responsibility as a 
moral agent. But in the case of Sergeant Mason 
the general confidence was not only betrayed, but a 
special confidence as a guard over the life of a help- 
less prisoner; military subordination and authority 
were set at defiance, and, as Lord Bacon expresses 
it, he set aside the law of his country and substi- 
tuted his own murderous will in place of it. Gui- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 201 

teau's act violated law ; Sergeant Mason's abolished 
it, and when he assumes to say that twenty thou- 
sand of the thirty thousand soldiers and officers of 
the army of the United States would do as he did, 
we can but think that he adds to his other wrong a 
slander upon the military discipline and character of 
his own country. Southern pride is greatly relieved 
of a great mortification in the fact that he is not 
a Virginian. 

A very interesting question is being considered in 
Guiteau's case. It is this : Shall he be tried under 
the law of the District of Columbia, or that of the 
State of New Jersey? The object seems to be to 
make him amenable to the severest penalty, it being 
doubtful whether, as the President died outside of 
the District of Columbia, the law there would hold 
him responsible for more than an assault and bat- 
tery; while under the law of New Jersey he might 
be held for murder. 

The dignity and majesty of the law should be 
fully maintained, and its penal sanctions strictly and 
justly enforced, but care should be taken against any 
quibbling for vengeance which would add disgrace 
to our national misfortune. The latter we can and 
must bear, the former we must and can not. If the 
law is defective, let it be amended for future cases; 
never let the American people dodge the wise pro- 
hibitory ex post facto provision in the Constitution 
to punish even so great a criminal as Guiteau is, or 
may be. The text of the New Jersey law (as re- 



202 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

cently published in the Advertiser) seems literally 
and completely to cover the case. Yet it is not 
without mystery how New Jersey can inflict punish- 
ment, when it is clear no offense has been commit- 
ted on her territory or against her law. What of- 
fense has Guiteau committed against the law of 
New Jersey more than against the law of Alabama, 
New York, or Massachusetts? The accident of the 
President's dying on her territory was certainly no 
offense on the part of Guiteau against her peace or 
dignity, and that constitutes the only connecting 
link between his terrible deed and that State more 
than others. It would be clearly her duty to extra- 
dite him to the District of Columbia, if in the cus- 
tody of her authorities and a demand was made. 
As the case now stands, he can only pass into her 
hands by the Governor's requisition. What offense 
against her laws will he allege to justify the de- 
mand? Will it be that the President died on her 
soil? If this is all, will she become a universal 
avenger of every State, and indeed of every nation 
the world over? If a man is stricken in Japan and 
dies on her territory will she punish the murderer 
according to her law? It seems to us the assump- 
tion of such a power is a direct disparagement, if 
not insult, to all other sovereignties, state and na- 
tional. Suppose a man is shot in France and dies 
in New Jersey, would it be appropiate for her to de- 
mand the murderer of France, or Alabama, if he 
had become a refugee in our State ? It seems so ab- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 203 

surd we cannot think it will be sustained either by 
the common sense of the American people or the 
civilized world. Guiteau's amenability must be to 
the law of the District of Columbia, and nowhere 
else. 

OTHER POINTS IN THE GUITEAU CASE 

Editor Advertiser : As we stated in an article 
published in the Advertiser of 29th ultimo, there are 
several other points of interesting thought to reflect- 
ing minds forcibly suggested by the trial of Guiteau, 
to which we now call your attention. 

Mr. Justice Cox has been censured because he did 
not discipline the prisoner better, and make him 
more respectful to the court and more courteous to 
the attorneys and witnesses. He ruled him to the 
dock when it was demanded by the prosecuting at- 
torney. What more could he do? He could not 
imprison him, for he was already in prison; he 
could not disgrace his court and shock the world by 
gagging him, and he could not order him to be pri- 
vately tortured against law and right, for he was 
on the bench to enforce the former and protect the 
latter. His impartiality seems to have been above 
impeachment, for we have not seen it called in ques- 
tion by either side. Thus far his conduct is worthy 
of all commendation, but he certainly lowered the 
dignity of his court by extreme leniency to some of 
the lawyers who were playing a part in it; for in- 
stance, on one occasion he ruled against Judge Por- 



204 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

ter; the judge replied he had been practicing law 
more than thirty years and had never heard of such 
a ruling. The remark could mean nothing less than 
wilful preverseness or stupid ignorance on the part 
of the presiding judge. Could contempt be more 
forcibly expressed? Yet, it was passed without 
rebuke. As Mr. Reed said, Judge Porter should 
have been imprisoned, or the displeasure of the 
court expressed by fine, or in some other way. 
Again, there is a wide difference between lawful and 
gentlemanly liberty on the part of lawyers in our 
courts and unbridled license. The indignities of- 
fered witnesses in many instances make it little less 
unfortunate to be a witness than to be a prisoner on 
trial. The sin of a prisoner against law should be 
fairly, fully, and fearlessly brought out, and the 
testimony of witnesses should be thoroughly dis- 
sected and sifted, and its inconsistencies fearlessly 
exposed. Justice is satisfied with nothing less than 
this, but the indulgence of billingsgate in the appli- 
cation of ugly and degrading epithets, either to an 
unfortunate prisoner or an inconsistent witness, is 
almost as incompatible with the dignity of a court 
of justice as with the sacredness of a church. It 
should be borne in mind that every prisoner is not 
a criminal and every inconsistent witness is not a 
liar, and if a man is unfortunate enough to be either, 
it does not necessarily follow that he has lost his 
sense of decency and self respect, and that his 
friends and kindred who may be spectators have 

% 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 205 

been unfortunate enough to lose theirs also. Men 
are not arraigned in court that they may be helpless 
objects of abuse, but that they may be justly con- 
demned and punished, or honorably acquitted and 
discharged. The whole duty of a prosecuting at- 
torney is to bring out and sift testimony, and to 
make a fair, just and honest presentation of the law 
applicable to it before the court, and as the court is 
careful to exclude the opinions of all others from 
the jury we cannot see, except so far as it may 
be unavoidable by his official relation to the case, 
why a prosecuting attorney should be allowed 
to express, much less indulge in opprobrious and 
degrading epithets. A great, just and good attorney 
is one of the grandest ornaments of the intellectual 
and moral world, for he is a power in both; but 
great intellectual and moral power are not insepa- 
rable associates ; great responsibility is, however, an 
inseparable accompaniment of both. An attorney 
of power, more zealous for success than justice, who 
misrepresents and suppresses testimony, misapplies 
law, dissembles an opinion, or even entertains one 
honestly and obtrudes it outside of the line of his 
duty, so that an innocent man is hanged, incurs fear- 
ful responsibility, and when such cases are finally 
appealed to the grand Assize of the universe, re- 
vised and rejudicated, we have grave reasons to fear 
that where a Guiteau has committed one homicide, 
possibly murder, such have committed may unques- 
tionable, unatoned for murders, and will be held to 



206 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

account. Said Pope: "Behold Lord Bacon, see 
him shine! The greatest, brightest, meanest, of 
mankind." 

Another point of interesting thought is this : It 
is most conducive to the ends of justice that the 
prosecution should have the closing speech, as is the 
case in all of our courts, particularly where both sides 
have double counsel, as in the case of Guiteau. To 
call in question the wisdom of a usage so venerable 
as this, of which it may be said in the langauge of 
one of England's greatest lawyers : "Whereof the 
memory of man runneth not to the contrary," as of 
the customs that make up the common law of Eng- 
land, borders on temerity, but ours is an inquisitive 
age. Nothing is accepted as true or wise simply 
because it is hoary with age. We venerate the 
usages that have come down to us from our fathers ; 
but it is not a slavish veneration — a veneration that 
makes them unapproachable for critical examina- 
tion. We are constantly changing fashions, tearing 
down the old buildings, in sciences, arts and archi- 
tecture, remodeling and improving them in accord- 
ance with larger experiences, more extended obser- 
vation, more light, and better reasons ; and why not 
this, if found defective, as well as others? If these 
are sound maxims, that it is better that an hundred 
guilty men go unpunished than that one innocent 
man should suffer, and that a prisoner shall in all 
cases have the benefit of a reasonable doubt; if 
there is an advantage in the last speech, why should 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 207 

not the prisoner have the benefit of that also ? Does 
not the same spirit of justice, tempered with mercy, 
animate all of them? Who doubts that there is an 
advantage? A judge now on the Supreme Court 
bench was once consulted in one of those rather 
anomalous cases in which either party could bring 
suit; he advised his client to sue at once. "Why?" 
the client asked. "Well," said he, "there is a great 
advantage and power in the last speech. The open- 
ing speech rarely brings out the saliant points of 
the prosecution; it is intended simply to draw the 
fire of the defense and force it to uncover, and then 
the masked batteries are opened to play upon the ex- 
posures with no opportunity for replication ; so that 
the prosecution is entrenched behind a degree of 
secrecy, and is practically unassailable except by an- 
ticipation." Is not a usage that puts human life 
and character at such a disadvantage unwise, if not 
unjust ? It may be answered that it would consume 
too much time. We answer, not a great deal more, 
particularly if asking the same questions over half a 
dozen times or more was abridged within reason- 
able limits, and if it does consume more time, what 
is the value of it, compared with that of life and 
character ? 

Again, Mr. Editor, the finding of the jury in the 
Guiteau case makes the old monarchies of Europe 
supremely happy, and refutes the assumption of our 
greatest historian, which is substantially rehashed in 
almost every Fourth of July speech, and in which 
14 



208 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

the American people have prided themselves so 
much — that the superior strength of our govern- 
ment and its assured permanency rest in the fact 
that being a government from the people and for the 
people, it is founded in the love of the people, while 
the old monarchies are governments from kings, for 
kings, and rest on the fears of the people. The dis- 
satisfaction of a people with a government always 
manifests itself by hostility to rulers or those who 
administer it ; hence it is that a number of the pres- 
ent crowned heads of Europe have been shot at, and 
the late Czar of Russia fell a victim to dynamite. 
The ruler of any government, autocratic, oligarchi- 
cal, a constitutional monarchy, or a republic, 
whether good or bad, is equally liable, under simi- 
lar exposures, to be shot down by an insane man, 
because he can neither comprehend the magnitude 
of his crime, nor appreciate the excellency of one 
government more than another which they repre- 
sent. It is simply a brutal act — not criminal, be- 
cause of an overthrown reason; but when it is ad- 
mitted, as it is done by that verdict, that a man in his 
right reason did deliberately, without personal prov- 
ocation to arouse passion, shoot down the President, 
the further admission must be made that govern- 
ment grievances do exist in the judgment of a man 
in his right reason to justify the killing of the Presi- 
dent. What evidence have you then of the truth of 
the assumption that our government, more than 
others, is founded in the love of the people? Dp 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 209 

any others except sane and insane men kill kings? 
Hence we say that verdict has made the old mon- 
archs of Europe supremely happy. 

That there is a doubt in the minds of many clear- 
headed and sound-hearted men as to Guiteau's san- 
ity — a doubt so deep and strong as to amount to 
conviction — no candid man can deny. The first im- 
pulse of the public mind is always unfavorable to a 
homicide, and in a case like this, where the executive 
head of a great nation falls, it roars and rages like 
an aroused and angry lion, and for a time reason is 
dethroned and passion reigns, but in the end, reason 
will assert its rightful sovereignty, and public opin- 
ion decides justly, but, unfortunately, often too late 
to save the victim. In this instance, public passion 
was naturally high, and the trembling rulers of 
Europe have, from policy, aided in fanning it to 
white heat with their telegrams of sympathy, and 
gained their point, the admission that a sane man 
has shot the President, and consequently our gov- 
ernment is no more loved than theirs, and our Presi- 
dent is an unsafe and as little honored and loved as 
they are. If the jury was unswayed by passion and 
outside pressure, and acted under honest or uncon- 
strained conviction, they could not find otherwise 
than as they did, but it seems to us that every man 
who prides himself in his country can but regret 
that the rotten monarchies of the old world were not 
disappointed, and that the jury were not persuaded 



210 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

that none but a crazy maniac would shoot down the 
President of the United States. 

In conclusion, the probability now is that a great 
opportunity will be offered President Arthur to 
grandly immortalize himself. Let us wait and see 
how he will improve it. 

THE TRIAL OF GUITEAU 

Editor Advertiser: Breaking an intellectual 
lance with you reminds me of advice given me, 
when quite a youth, by Judge Badger, one of the 
ablest judges that ever graced the ermine in North 
Carolina, and as I know you can appreciate a good 
anecdote, though it be a little caustic upon the edi- 
torial fraternity, I will state it: Said he, "Never 
get into controversy with an editor; not that they 
have more brains than others, but when the war be- 
comes fierce and passes over into Africa, their sym- 
pathy for you and fear lest you will hurt yourself 
becomes so distressing to them that they are almost 
sure to close their columns and enforce the gag law 
for your safety." In this instance, however, I have 
no fear on that point, for two reasons : 

1. The well known liberality and courtesy of the 
editor. 

2. This is the only gun I expect to mount and fire 
on the ramparts of reason and logic upon the mat- 
ter in question. 

As you only took exception as to whether Guiteau 
could be tried under the law of New Jersey, and sev- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 211 

eral other points were made prominent in my article, 
I assume that you approve them, and confess I feel 
flattered by your favorable opinion. 

I asked in my article: "What offense has he*, 
Guiteau, committed against the peace and dignity 
of New Jersey?" and you quote the question in your 
criticism, but your article fails to furnish an answer 
to it. If you answer he slew with murderous intent 
her President; my rejoinder is, he was equally the 
President of all the other States, and upon that 
ground is equally amenable to each one of them. 

In another place you use the following language : 
"The murderer may entice, according to the argu- 
ment of our able correspondent, his victim to the 
Jersey line, and yet if the murderer be careful to 
stand on the other side of the line while he deals the 
bloody blow, it will be no offense against the peace 
and dignity of New Jersey." In that event the 
murder would be clearly committed in the State of 
New Jersey, and her courts should unquestionably 
have jurisdiction. But, Mr. Editor, though your 
article is critical, I cannot think you have read mine 
with a critic's eye. Read it again, and you will find 
no premises in it to warrant your deduction. 

Again, you say, "he may slay a hundred victims 
in New York, or Pennsylvania, and if he shall drag 
them over into New Jersey to die, or if they are 
borne by kind hands to be cared for there, or if his 
victim flies, only to fall and perish in his New Jer- 
sey home, no offense, says our esteemed correspond- 



212 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

ent, is committed against the peace and dignity of 
New Jersey." Her moral sentiment in such a case, 
has been shocked, but her peace and dignity has not 
been compromised, and I am quite sure that you do 
not mean to intimate that any of these aggravating 
circumstances apply to the case under consideration. 
But have New York and Pennsylvania no courts or 
criminal law that New Jersey should be under the 
necessity of taking care of them and guarding their 
peace and dignity, as well as the peace and dignity 
of every other State and nation on both continents? 
She is a small State, but her legislative heroism is 
truly wonderful and worldwide. The authorities 
of New Jersey, in the above supposed cases, should 
arrest the outragers of law and order, if on her ter- 
ritory, and deliver them to New York, or Pennsyl- 
vania, on the requisition of the Governor of the 
State whose peace and dignity have been disturbed 
and insulted and whose law has been violated. She 
has no right to legislate criminally or otherwise for 
the civilized world. 

The fact, as you state, that the Supreme Court of 
New Jersey has decided that this"cosmol" law is 
constitutional, establishes nothing to the point, not 
even that they think it a wise law or respectful to 
other States and nations; only that it is not viola- 
tive of the constitution of New Jersey. Constitu- 
tions are made by men and partake of the same 
weakness and sometimes of the follies that laws do 
enacted by legislatures, and both are occasionally 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 213 

made by the same men. To say that a law is not un- 
constitutional is neither to say that it is just, 
founded in sound policy, or respectful to other 
States or nations, for the constitution may be indif- 
ferent as to the matter of legislation, or may be as 
defective as the law itself. 

Take these two cases : One of them suggested in 
my article which you criticise, and answer the ques- 
tions that follow : Suppose a man shot in France 
dies in New Jersey, and his murderer is a refugee 
in Alabama. This "cosmol" law of New Jersey 
seems clearly violated. The Governor of New Jer- 
sey must make his requisition upon the Governor of 
Alabama. What offense will he allege has been 
committed against the peace and dignity of his 
State to justify Alabama in arresting and extradit- 
ing him? Would he say simply that the murdered 
man had died in New Jersey ? I greatly mistake the 
stuff our courts and Governor are made of if they 
would respect the demand upon such an allegation. 

Again, it is a maxim of law that no man's life 
shall be put in jeopardy more than once for the same 
offense. Suppose Guiteau is indicted for murder, 
tried and acquitted in the District of Columbia, and 
immediately a requisition is made for him by New 
Jersey, and suppose a jury and judge there, of 
course, under a different and perhaps more stringent 
law, should find him guilty of murder and hang 
him, what becomes of the above maxim ? If acquit- 
ted by the former he has not vindicated his inno- 



214 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

cence before the latter, nor atoned, until he is 
hanged. What prevents this state of things ex- 
cept there is a prohibitory provision in the Constitu- 
tion of the United States (upon which point I con- 
fess I am not informed), or he is saved by the 
simple comity between the State and District? In 
the case supposed one of two alternatives is inevit- 
able ; the maxim must be surrendered or the absurd- 
ity adopted that he committed two murders, one in 
the District of Columbia, and the other in the State 
of New Jersey, in killing one and the same man. 

The effect, if not the spirit of the New Jersey 
law, is a refinement upon that of the ancient tyrants 
who published their laws by hanging them up so 
high that no one could read them; for many men, 
both in Europe and America, violate her law who 
are not only ignorant of it, but actually ignorant of 
her existence. You have now some of the reasons 
why I do not believe the trial of Guiteau in New 
Jersey will be sustained by the common sense of the 
American people or of the civilized world. 

In conclusion: I am no apologist for Guiteau. 
As I have said, if he is of sound mind, and a re- 
sponsible moral agent, I firmly believe he deserves 
death; but let not the civil authorities present the 
humiliating spectacle before the gaze of the civilized 
world of being revengers instead of enforcers of 
law. A Latin maxim runs thus : "Justitia Virtutum 
Regina" — and let justice be done though the heavens 
fall. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 215 

GUITEAU 

Editor Advertiser: The trial of Guiteau has 
come to a conclusion. For a number of weeks it oc- 
cupied a large share of public attention, and cer- 
tainly suggested a number of points of interesting 
thought for reflecting minds. His, and one or 
more other trials of recent date, with their accom- 
panying circumstances, have greatly depreciated the 
public estimate of the skill and reliability of expert 
testimony. Chemical experts suffered greatly by the 
absurdity of their opinions and the contradictions 
of their testimony in the Hayden trial for the al- 
leged murder of Mary Stanard. The surgical ex- 
perts who had the care of the wounded President 
fell entirely out of sight of public expectation in 
demonstrating the direction of the wound, and in 
their daily diagnosis of the case. That an abscess 
six inches long and three in diameter should have 
existed for from sixty to seventy days and not been 
detected under a twice or thrice daily examination 
by from four to six professional experts, and no 
blood poisoning suspected or observed by a number 
of them until near the close of the President's ill- 
ness, struck the public with amazement. Expert 
professors with their humming machines, like the 
surgeons, located the ball anywhere else but where it 
was found, and were equally unfortunate and more 
ridiculous. The autopsy, blunderingly as it was 



Written January 29, 1882. 



216 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

performed, resulting in accidentally rinding the ball 
in the bowl where the President's intestines had been 
placed after three-quarters of an hour's search, was 
a Waterloo disaster to the expert surgeons and pro- 
fessors who had located the ball before death. 
More unfortunate than the cuttle fish, they could 
not even ink the waters with high sounding words 
for blood poison, the usual device of the profession 
and of professors to escape detection in professional 
blunders. 

The foregoing cases should have been a warning 
to the experts who were to play a part in the Guiteau 
trial, but nothing is more blind than professional 
vanity; it is not only without sight, but is like the 
tenants of subterranean streams, it is without eyes 
also. Though it seems to be clear that there was 
conference and concert among the hired experts of 
the government, there was unanimity in nothing, not 
even as to whether Guiteau was or was not aping 
insanity, for they were directly at issue upon this 
point. They approximated unanimity in this, that 
the brain is always diseased in insanity, a conclusion 
directly in conflict with well authenticated cases of 
record, in which persons had been insane for years 
by pressure upon the brain or from some other 
cause, not disease, which, when relieved so that it 
could perform its functions, was followed by almost 
instant sanity. A shock received by a distinguished 
clergyman by a fall from an upper story of a build- 
ing, who had been insane for several years, restored 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 217 

him to instant sanity; the insane period was a 
blank, the mind resumed its self possession, as to 
time, at the moment it had lost it. A Confederate 
soldier's skull was penetrated by a ball during the 
late Civil War; he was insane and an inmate of an 
asylum for ten or more years. The ball was then 
extracted and instant sanity followed. Could there 
have been a diseased condition of the brain in these 
cases ? 

Dr. Spitza gave the clearest, most manly, scientific 
and consistent testimony of all the experts before 
the court, and, among many other sensible things, 
said experts should not be summoned by either side, 
but by the court, for the very obvious reason that 
money has a very persuasive power over men's con- 
sciences, and experts, however high in reputation, 
are not exceptions to the rule "quid non mortalia 
pectora cogis auri sacra fames/' 

Another interesting point forcibly suggested by 
the Guiteau trial is this : How far should the reg- 
ular or hired prosecuting attorneys allow their per- 
sonal feelings to become involved by their profes- 
sional position. The position of the former class is 
a necessary one; that of the latter is one of choice, 
the result of hire, but both may be honorably or dis- 
honorably filled. In this instance both the regularly 
appointed attorney and the hired ones are in the em- 
ployment of the government, and are therefore its 
representatives, not their own. Is the government 
correctly represented when a Reynolds is sent to the 



218 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

jail to dissemble friendship, that the prisoner may 
be off of guard, and that he may more effectually 
ensnare and betray him; when a government de- 
tective is found to be in possession of information 
vital to the prisoner, and is neither called to the 
witness stand by the prosecution nor allowed to be 
called by the defense; when a stenographer is sent 
by the prosecuting attorney to pump the prisoner 
and take testimony in writing from his lips, and it is 
discovered that the testimony is the reverse of what 
was expected, and it is suppressed and not produced 
when demanded by the defense? If, under such 
circumstances, an insane or innocent man is hanged, 
what is the government but a judicial murderer ? It 
must with shame and humiliation be admitted that 
President Arthur's superserviceable zeal (as reported 
in one or more of his cabinet meetings) to have 
auxiliary counsel employed with Col. Corkhill, taken 
in connection with the foregoing facts, and many 
others, and the uncovering of a reasonable and prob- 
able motive on his part by Mr. Scoville, give a 
strong color of truth, if they do not amount to the 
certainty of a mathematical demonstration, that the 
government has degenerated into a malicious, rather 
than just and merciful prosecutor in Guiteau's case, 
and if this be true, the President has piled Pelion 
on the top of Ossa in crime. The true, just and dig- 
nified position of a great and generous government 
in such a case is this — it should, if possible, be more 
zealous for and happy in the acquittal of the pris- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 219 

oner, if insane and consequently innocent, than in 
his conviction, if sane and consequently guilty. A 
prosecuting attorney, whether the regular or a hired 
one especially for the case, if a proper representa- 
tive of such a government, should be as averse to 
suppressing testimony favorable to the prisoner as 
to allowing that to be suppressed which tends to his 
conviction, and should feel his whole duty per- 
formed most grandly when all the facts favorable 
and unfavorable for the prisoner are fairly and 
clearly brought out and the law is justly and merci- 
fully applied to them. A prosecuting attorney who 
knowingly suppresses facts which, if known, would 
acquit a prisoner, if the prisoner is hanged, is mor- 
ally responsible to God for murder. How un- 
seemly then are the epithets "scoundrel, rascal, rob- 
ber, liar and wretch," applied to a helpless prisoner, 
innocent or guilty, by a prosecuting attorney. The 
sound of such epithets to a Christianized ear is more 
like the yelp of a bloodhound scenting blood than 
the voice of a noble advocate for justice represent- 
ing a great, good and generous government. 

Mr. Editor, there are several other interesting 
points of thought to which I wished to call your 
attention, but this article is already too long. Allow 
me in conclusion to say Mrs. Garfield was lovely 
amid the sad scenes around the suffering and finally 
dying couch of her husband, but it is simple justice 
to thousands, if not millions, of other wives to say 
that under similar circumstances they would have 



220 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

acted their part as well. But Mrs. Scoville is not 
only lovely, but grand amid the scenes and sorrows 
that are around her unfortunate brother, and we 
think but few, comparatively, could be her peers 
under the same circumstances. Mrs. Garfield was 
lovely in the sunshine of the world's sympathy, but 
Mrs. Scoville is both lovely and grand with the pas- 
sions and prejudices of the world raging as a relent- 
less storm all around her. Scipio Africanus is 
more renowned and admired, if possible, for his 
fraternal devotion than for his military conquests. 
Let her name as a sister be written side by side with 
his as a brother, and let the issue be what it may with 
her unfortunate brother, we think the American 
people would be honored in giving some public testi- 
monial of their admiration for her sisterly devo- 
tion to him. And what shall we say of Mr. Sco- 
ville ? We can express our admiration for his mag- 
nanimity, courage and power in no more fitting lan- 
guage than to say we believe he is in every way 
worthy of such a wife. 

"JUSTITIA VIRTUTUM REGINA" 

Editor Advertiser: Though hoary with age 
and often quoted, is not the above a questionable 
maxim? Substitute dementia for justitia, and if 
there is a difference in such exalted virtues we in- 
cline to the opinion the expression is nearer the 
truth. Simple justice without the intervention of 
mercy at this very moment would lay the world in 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 221 

ruins and produce universal death. Who, of all the 
good, to say nothing of the bad, could live in its 
fiery blaze? Through mercy life is granted, and 
justice becomes its guard. Human life is largely 
composed of errors and sins. Mercy procures pity 
for the former and pardon for the latter. Justice 
with frowning brow and firm nerve holds his sword 
above the trembling victim; mercy throws her 
arms around it, bathes it in her tears, sacrifices, and 
in pity pleads; yea, on her bended knees, begs for 
pardon. Justice is heard in the thunders of Sinai, 
mercy in the prayer of Calvary. Change that 
maxim, Mr. Editor, and let it forever be dementia 
virtutum regina, for the tears of mercy water the 
tree of life. Over the portals of heaven is written, 
in characters brighter and more precious than gold, 
the superscription — The Home of the Eorgiven. 

As we have said, human life is largely made up of 
errors and sins. Humanum est errare et pec- 
care. Picture for your readers two characters ; one 
a stern, uncompromising representative of justice, 
with some, perhaps many, errors on the side of se- 
verity, for however honest the heart may be, be- 
cause of a fallible judgment, they are inevitable; 
the other, equally devoted to mercy, with errors, 
perhaps many, on the side of clemency, from the 
same cause ; the former never intending to infringe 
upon the rights of mercy, and the latter equally 
scrupulous of those of justice. Now let your read- 
ers, as erring, sinning creatures, sit in judgment and 



222 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

decide which should be more admired; yes, more, 
which is essentially the more admirable character 
of the two. Both have erred, but the errors of one 
have caused innocent hearts to ache and tears to flow, 
while those of the other have eased the former and 
dried up the latter, though pardon was unmerited. 
Hence the wisdom of the law maxim that it is bet- 
ter for a hundred guilty men to escape than that one 
innocent man should suffer. Now, let both char- 
acters confront death, with a revelation to them of 
their errors and the effects which followed, and see 
which draws the highest and sweetest consolation 
from reflection. 

Such is the appealing power of mercy and for- 
giveness that their very errors — errors so great as 
to partake of sins — seem in some instances to exalt 
and beautify character. Who that has read the 
incident in Goldsmith's life, in which he actually 
betrayed the confidence and misapplied the money 
of a sympathizing, trusting friend, without in- 
creased admiration for his character? He was im- 
prisoned for debt ; his friend assumed the debt and 
had him released, and gave him the money with in- 
structions to go immediately and pay the debt. 
While on his way to do so, he met a bailiff with an- 
other poor, distressed debtor on his way to jail, and 
in a moment of overwhelming sympathy applied his 
friend's money to his release, and was immediately 
jailed again for his own debt. The late Judge 
Phelan, whom to know was to admire and love, 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 223 

related to the writer a case which came up for trial 
in his court many years before, while on the Circuit 
Court bench. A man was prosecuted for an of- 
fense for which the female heart has less tolerance, 
and particularly that of a wife, than all others. His 
wife was present and heard all the testimony, and, 
said the judge, it was so direct and conclusive of 
his guilt that I did not think there was a shadow of 
a chance for his escape. When the testimony was 
about closing, she asked to be put upon the witness 
stand, and everyone expected the testimony of a 
greatly injured and exasperated wife, but to the 
astonishment of all, she swore him clear at every 
point, and the jury was so overpowered by her 
sweetness, tenderness and sympathy that they ac- 
quitted him without leaving the box; and when he 
was discharged she stepped to his side, took his arm 
and carried him out, apparently the happiest little 
woman I ever saw, amid the cheers of the whole 
court room, including the jury. Said he, "I have 
often thought of the case since, and have never been 
able to satisfy myself that she did not commit per- 
jury, but still I can but feel that she deserves to have 
a monument erected to her memory." If mercy 
and forgiveness are so appealing to our sympathies 
when, as in the first case, a wrong is clearly done, 
and, as in the second, all the probabilities are that 
one was done, how much more should it commend 
itself to our admiration when both reasonable and 
violent doubts exist in many of the most discerning 
15 



224 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

minds and purest hearts, and human life is in- 
volved ? 

The foregoing chain of thought has been sug- 
gested by the conviction of Guiteau, and emphasized 
by the late letter of Mrs. Scoville to Mrs. Garfield, 
which the papers inform us is to be treated with the 
coldness of silence, or if answered at all, the answer 
is sent through a friend; that she desires to be let 
alone in her sorrow; that she cherishes no malice, 
but that Guiteau must answer to God and the Amer- 
ican people for what he has done. That letter is 
not simply an appeal for merciful intervention, it 
is beseeching, it is supplicating; the pauperism of 
language is such that it cannot express its intensity ; 
the writer's soul was upon its knees, if her person 
was not, and, no doubt, if the sheet upon which it is 
written was examined it would be found washed in 
tears. It was a woman — a sister, whose life had 
been in peril by the same hand that struck down the 
President, and whose heart was almost frenzied 
with grief — grief that, as she expressed it, the 
"sainted President" had fallen; grief that his wife 
was a widow and his children orphans; grief that 
her loved country was bereft; grief that she and 
hers must be dishonored ; and finally, grief that her 
unfortunate brother had caused it all and must die 
a felon's death, that made that plea. And what a 
pathos there was in it! As if she felt the wrong 
done was so great, the destruction of the peace, hap- 
piness and hopes of Mrs. Garfield was so complete 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 225 

that she was unapproachable by her alone, she as- 
sumes the forgiveness of the "sainted President" to 
open the way, and presents her petition as a united 
prayer of hers and his merciful intercession. She 
literally brings sympathy from two worlds to plead 
her cause. In view of these facts the answer is one 
of Siberian coldness. Silence would have been bet- 
ter than the one given by proxy. Indeed it is no 
answer at all ! It has no reference to the spirit of 
Mrs. Scoville's letter whatever. No one, much less 
Mrs. Scoville, had charged or even suspected Mrs. 
Garfield of malice, and therefore the disavowal of 
it was unnecessary. No pity was asked for, for 
Mrs. Scoville, or her family, or Guiteau's friends, 
only for him, and therefore to bestow it upon them 
was an ill-placed gratuity, and to notify her that 
Guiteau must answer to God and the American peo- 
ple was to advise her of a fact with which it is alto- 
gether probable, after the agony of many weeks 
trial of his case, she was distressingly acquainted, 
and more, it opened the door for the uncharitable to 
suspect that there was revengeful gratification in 
that fact. She may well say in this case, "protect 
me from my friends," etc. Besides, Mrs. Scoville, 
from the first, has appealed the case to God, and if 
He took primary jurisdiction of it, she would rest 
it and be happy, proudly declining to be an humble 
suppliant at the feet of Mrs. Garfield for merciful 
intercession, and safely too, no doubt, she feels Gui- 
teau could answer to the American people if passion 



226 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

was hushed to rest and reason and judgment un- 
prejudiced possessed the public mind. 

The situation of Mrs. Garfield, it must be admit- 
ted, involved very great difficulties and embarrass- 
ments. 'The bereavement and sense of injury that 
was upon her and her family, and the inflamed con- 
dition of public feeling, involving the certain loss 
of the sympathy of many friends, if not a blast of 
public vituperation, were indeed grave difficulties in 
her way. Besides, history attests the fact that 
while female character has been renowned for al- 
most every other virtue, forgiveness is not one of 
its most uniform and grandest distinctions, hence 
the saying "as unforgiving as a woman." The two 
Elizabeths, one of England, the other of Russia, are 
impressive illustrations of this truth. The former 
never forgave the unfortunate Mary, Queen of 
Scots, because she was more beautiful than herself, 
and, shaking a dying countess said : "God may for- 
give you, I never will"; and the latter, waging a 
relentless war (which only ended with her life) on 
Frederick the Great, which well nigh cost him his 
kingdom, because, in an unguarded moment, he un- 
wisely and unfavorably criticised her person. Her 
death, at the critical moment, saved him his throne. 
The case stated in the preceding part of this article 
from obscure life and the history of the unfortunate 
but illustrious Josephine go, however, far to redeem 
female character from this unfavorable imputation. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 227 

That was an exquisitely delicate, touching and 
pathetic point in Mrs. Scoville's letter when she sub- 
stantially said none but a crazy maniac could take 
the life of the "sainted President," and she could 
safely trust her brother's case with him, if he could 
be heard. In an interrogative form, the appeal is 
this — will you, can you, be less forgiving than he 
is; will not your very devotion to him induce you 
to accept an office of mercy which he would gladly 
occupy if in his power? It has been intimated that 
Mr. Scoville wrote that letter. No, never; we 
think him capable of great undertakings, but he can- 
not unsex himself. From beginning to end it is the 
genuine gushing of a grief stricken, anxious female 
heart. It is so overflowing with heart that we 
scarcely see a head in it, not a particle of method, 
except the method of undying sisterly devotion 
overwhelmed with misfortune. It is nevertheless a 
great production of its kind. It shows its author 
has grand conceptions of the capabilities of female 
character, and these conceptions are all predicated 
upon the power of the heart, which, after all, is the 
most resplendent glory of womanhood. Every as- 
sumption is imposingly grand. First, that the fe- 
male heart is capable of forgiving the greatest in- 
juries. Second, can so far rise above nature as not 
only to forgive, but mediate and intercede for mercy 
to the injuring party. Third, thus moved, it can 
face the passions and prejudices of the world, if 
need be, and sacrifice its sympathies in its devotion 



228 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

to a sense of duty. And lastly, that there is a power 
in a single woman capable of staying a nation's pas- 
sions and moving it to pity and forgiveness of a 
man more unfortunate than criminal. That letter, 
by assumption, invests all of these grand concep- 
tions in Mrs. Garfield, but if the answer of her 
friend be true, she cannot illustrate them. What 
truly noble and generous heart, male or female, 
could withhold its admiration and applause from 
her if she could? Perhaps the conception is too 
supernal, and wrapped in too much of celestial 
grandeur and glory to find an illustration on earth. 
No parallel case occurs to the writer in history. 
God forbid that Mrs. Scoville, or any other woman, 
should again be subject to so trying a test; but as 
she conceived it, and back of it stands a character 
(so far as it has come under public scrutiny) as 
solid as granite and as resplendent as light, we in- 
cline to the opinion, if the occasion offered, she 
could and would illustrate it. While Mrs. Gar- 
field has the nation's sympathy, and, for aught we 
know, deserves it, Mrs. Scoville deserves not only 
its sympathy, but its pride, admiration and applause. 
She stands like a pillar of light and loveliness upon 
which dashes a cataract of sorrow, which, as a moral 
prism, causes rainbows of beauty to cluster around 
her. In conclusion, we humbly but earnestly com- 
mend the 126th Psalm to the attention of the Ameri- 
ican people and the President. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 229 

SOME THOUGHTS ON A SUBJECT OF 
GREAT PUBLIC INTEREST 

Editor Advertiser: The Advertiser, like the 
Spectator, is expected to exercise a general super- 
vision over the welfare of society, to suggest and 
prompt it to what is good, and to warn and restrain 
it from that which is evil, and too, as it is well 
known that editors know everything, it is further 
expected of you that you will explain the origin and 
causes of many things about which the public are 
very curious. There is no estimating the value of a 
vigilant editor to a city or community. Do you not 
remember that the editor of the Spectator was ab- 
sent for a short time, and how confused society be- 
came, and what a profound darkness came all over 
London, and how soon the wonted order and light 
were restored by his return ? 

One matter of profound interest seems in part to 
have escaped your attention. True, you have kept 
us posted as to the changes of fashions, and now 
that you have returned to the city, we are quite sure 
it is only necessary to suggest it and you will give 
all necessary explanations of the origin of fashions 
and also exercise your rightful editorial regulating 
authority over them, and that you may be certain 
that you are acting within the province of your right- 
ful authority in doing so, we will cite a precedent, 
for precedents not only assure courts that they are 

Written April I, 1888. 



230 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

right, but reconcile the people to decisions, for they 
are thereby made certain that they are treading in the 
footprints of their fathers, and not wildly wander- 
ing away from the wise teachings of past experi- 
ence. While the editor of the Spectator was absent 
from London (oh, what a power Addison was!) 
speculation went wild in regard to the prevailing 
fashion of wearing hoops of very wide expansion 
by the ladies. Various conjectures were indulged 
as to the reason of it, for the mind of man is so 
constituted that it must have a reason for every- 
thing, but as he returned, with unanimous consent, 
the question was submitted to him. After maturely 
considering it, he said : "The question is not with- 
out many and very great difficulties, but one thing 
is certain, these very expansive hoops are not worn 
because the daughters have less heat under them 
than their mothers had." Everyone saw at once the 
wisdom of the opinion and concurrence was unani- 
mous. 

While you have been absent from the city, like 
our English fathers and mothers, we have been 
speculating no little about the power and origin of 
fashions, and your opinion is of no less importance 
to us than that of the Spectator was to them. Some 
have insisted that fashion is only a matter of taste 
and has no resistless, tyrannical power whatever; 
that taste is only a passive sentiment of the mind, 
and that the fact that it is constantly and whim- 
sically changing is conclusive that it has no preserv- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 231 

ing motive force and may be turned from its accus- 
tomed channel by casting a few pebbles into it, 
while, strange to say, others magnify it into a power 
equal to a mountain torrent, the force of the Mis- 
sissippi, the Amazon, the vast river that plows its 
way through the ocean, from the tropics to the poles 
and back again, and some of them, who make great 
pretentions to reading, say that fashionable gentle- 
men a few centuries ago wore boots three feet long, 
with the toe end held up by a chain fastened to the 
knee, so that when walking they appeared to have 
each foot in a little bateau ; that in one great nation 
at least, the different grades of society were indi- 
cated by the length of the shoe or boot, and that it 
was unlawful for one of a lower grade to wear a 
shoe of greater length than belonged to his class; 
that the Papal power was plenary at that time, that 
the Pope became alarmed lest the Scriptures might 
be falsified, in that they say: "Which of you by 
taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" 
it being an energetic way of affirming a negative 
and he fulminated his forbidding bull, but that the 
force of fashion set at defiance the authority of the 
Pope and won a complete victory. Now, Mr. Edi- 
tor, logic seems to be on one side and facts on the 
other, and in our bewilderment our only and final 
appeal is to your forensic wisdom. 

Again, the origin of fashions in your absence has 
caused much perplexing speculation. Those of 
more vivid imagination or delicate taste, or at least 



232 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

claim to be so, have traced them to flower gardens, 
to birds of delicate plumage, to both marine and ter- 
rine fauna of graceful form or motion, and some on 
the wing of imagination have gone to the starry 
heavens in search of the origin of fashions; while 
others, Mr. Editor, who claim to be more practical, 
say, as the much appreciated ambergris for ladies' 
toilets is to be traced to the morbid secretions of 
diseased whales, so many of the most fascinating 
and irresistible fashions are to be traced to human 
deformities, and actually, sir, they point us to 
the large boots, alluded to above, as having been 
invented because of a wen on a fashionable noble- 
man's big toe, and the now obsolete bag pudding 
sleeve to an ugly and unnatural excrescence on a 
fashionable lady's arm, and the present fashion of 
the ladies' bustle has excited no little speculation 
among thoughtful men. The vegetable kingdom has 
been thoroughly explored by experienced and ob- 
servant botanists, and no trace of it has as yet been 
found. The starry realm has been swept by the 
most powerful magnifying glasses and the keenest 
and the most practiced astronomical eyes, and with 
like result. The most skilled scientists in the animal 
kingdom have been busily at work to solve this per- 
plexing problem. Some of them have suggested the 
hump on the camel's back, but others have insisted 
that the bustle is too low down for that and have 
suggested, and we can but think with better reason, 
that the Syrian sheep is entitled to the honor, as one- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 233 

third of the entire weight of that animal is in its 
very short tail, and the location of the two exactly 
correspond, but, Mr. Editor, as you are now in place, 
the onus of deciding this most perplexing, interest- 
ing and important question is upon you. 

There is another point connected with the bustle, 
at this time of absorbing, prospective interest to the 
public. It has been intimated that Mr. Worth, of 
Paris, who, as is well known, shapes the fashions of 
the civilized world, is considering the propriety of 
moving it from its present rear to a front position, 
and already curious people are speculating about the 
probable effect, and for once, sir, there is great 
unanimity of opinion that the effect will be very 
hopeful, in this, that the nation will not be wanting 
in a plenty of soldiers to defend it in the next gen- 
eration. 

You will readily perceive, Mr. Editor, that it was 
my duty to let you know what was going on during 
your absence, and how much is expected of you in 
settling these questions of great and absorbing pub- 
lic interest, that you might take notice and act ac- 
cordingly. I beg therefore that you will not allow 
your feelings to overflow in a gush of gratitude. A 
plain duty performed by me imposes no obligation 
on you. 



234 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

WEIGHTS OFF IN THE RACE OF LIFE 

Editor Advertiser: Revision and amendment 
are absolutely essential to true progress. We some- 
times say a man is progressing in crime. This is 
not true progress. If he is progressing at all, it is 
paradoxically retrogressive progress he is making. 
The object of history is not simply to preserve acts, 
facts and consequences from oblivion. A man may 
be a very remarkable heluo librorum and yet a very 
stupid ass. A mind that absorbs acts, facts and 
consequences and digests nothing from them to im- 
prove the future is as little profited by them as a 
sponge is by the liquid or fluid it absorbs. The 
mind may be said to be distended by them, and van- 
ity may be increased but wisdom and true progress 
never. The high object of history in preserving the 
past from oblivion is to reflect light upon the present 
and the future ; it is to make the present generation 
wiser and better than those which have preceded it, 
and the next better and wiser than the present. 
Hence scientific theories and religious creeds, civil 
laws and general and local customs are revised and 
corrected or amended. 

Nothing is more essential to true progress than a 
sound public sentiment, for it is its energizing power, 
and therefore nothing should be more frequently 
and sharply scrutinized, examined, corrected and 
amended than it. The efficacy of legislation which 



Written Sepember 22, 1883. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 235 

stimulates the well-doing and protects the well-be- 
ing of all, depends upon it, and the loftiest progress 
always follows in the train of the soundest public 
sentiment. Public opinion sometimes admits a fact 
and readily reasons to its wise logical conclusions 
or effects and yet a sort of silent undertow of cus- 
tom, feeling or sentiment annuls the practical effect 
of the admission, and when attention is called to its 
disastrous consequences, the wisdom of the opinion 
is reaffirmed, and yet the undertow continues to 
glide silently on to the attainment of its logical re- 
sults. 

Now, not a man of a clear head and sound heart 
will question the following truth : 

That our home born, raised and educated young 
men, and young women too, who enter the profes- 
sions suited to their sex, should have the arena 
cleared of every obstruction to fair competition with 
all others, and yet both old and young are conscious 
this is not the case. 

This fact is not endemic to us nor peculiar to this 
age; this unjust undertow has a sort of omnipres- 
ence in all communities and all ages, and results 
from various causes. 

1. The old adage is not without its effects, "dis- 
tance lends enchantment to the view." 

2. Those raised among us are first known as 
children, then as boys, girls and youths, and it is 
difficult for us to realize and accept them as fully 
developed men and women and as our equals, to say 



236 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

nothing as they have had better advantages than we 
have, in some instances as our superiors, hence we 
unjustly hold them as children, and as such do not 
credit them with the right of full grown manhood 
and womanhood and a competency to compete with 
us and the world in professional skill and ability. 

3. And lastly under this head, for we have not 
space to cite the multitude of causes that produce 
this injustice : There is power in names. The old 
novelist who wrote a whole book to get a child cor- 
rectly named, and greatly to his own and the fam- 
ily's distress, got him named wrong at last, was not 
as crazy as many took him to be. He knew at least 
the power of a name, and that is more than many 
people know. 

In childhood we soften Edward into Eddie, Ben- 
jamin into Bennie, John into Johnnie, William into 
Willie, etc. Now is not this downright emascula- 
tion of names ? Old habits will prevail. When the 
boy becomes a man it is Eddie, Bennie, Johnnie and 
Willie still. He is kept a boy by the power of a 
name, until a generation dies off, and is lucky if he 
is not professionally emasculated too. 

Mr. Editor, sound them : Eddie A. is my grocer; 
Bennie B. is my lawyer; Johnnie C. is my doctor, 
and Willie D. is my pastor. Is not the sound a real 
practical, substantial incumbus or vampire upon the 
professional strength of our native born young man- 
hood? Why, sir, the writer knows a man who is 
still kept a boy by one of these softenings, though he 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 237 

is now the father of ten or a dozen children. Thus 
we start in tenderness to our children, and end in 
disparagement and weakness to our home-born, 
raised and educated young men. We think there is 
much of weakness and imappropriateness in the 
fashionable softenings of female names also; but 
the above sufficiently illustrate the point we wish 
to make. 

This unjust undertow of public sentiment and 
feeling has the following, among other unfortunate 
tendencies : 

1. To scatter families who are natural allies, and 
are providentially intended mutually to strengthen 
each other, as was illustrated by the fable of the 
dying father and the straws. 

2. To drive from us our most ambitious and en- 
terprising young men, who feeling that they cannot 
compete, on the arena of manhood where their 
childhood was, fairly and equally with others from 
a distance, go elsewhere. A case is now in our eye 
of a young man who met only discouragement here, 
and was quickly honored with a seat in the legis- 
lature of another State. 

3. This deprives us of an essential developing 
power, and gives to the West the very power we 
most need. This is one of the evolutionary powers 
that has made the West so great. 

4. It discourages those young men who because 
of their love for the home of their childhood and 
the family tie of heart to heart, cannot tear them- 



238 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

selves away, and resolve to run the race of life with 
this wrongful weight upon them. 

For these reasons, which are sufficient, and others 
we might mention, let us revise, correct and amend, 
not public opinion, as we have said it is right, but 
this secret, silent undertow of public sentiment and 
feeling that in many instances robs our homes of 
sweet associates, our community of its most in- 
domitable energy, and our State of its best talent, 
and calls strangers to take and enjoy rights, honors 
and emoluments that justly belong to our own chil- 
dren. 

Nothing in this is intended to discourage enter- 
prising and worthy young men from coming among 
us, and becoming of us. To plead for the equal 
rights of our home born, raised and educated young 
men is no plea for wrong to be visited upon others. 
Our motto is, clear the arena and let all young men 
who will, spring upon it with heart, hope, energy and 
will, alike untrammeled, and let a true and noble 
manhood fairly tested, settle the question of merit 
and promotion between them. 

Said the Master: "A prophet is not without 
honor, but in his own country and among his own 
kin and in his own house. And he could there do no 
mighty works," etc. Mark 6 : 4-5. But he did them 
elsewhere. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 239 

THE SUITABLE EDUCATION FOR THE 
NEGRO RACE 

Editor of the Daily Dispatch : We lay this 
before your readers as a postulate, which no intelli- 
gent, honest, white or black, man can or will ques- 
tion — That education is best for men which makes 
them most contented in the position which nature 
has qualified them to occupy, and which surround- 
ing circumstances will inevitably compel them to oc- 
cupy; which makes them most useful citizens in 
that position; and when the educational system of a 
State secures these two objects, viz : the most per- 
sonal contentment and the highest usefulness for 
any and all classes of her citizens, the whole duty of 
the State in educating them is performed. We state 
the postulate negatively thus, any system of public 
education which reduces the personal contentment 
of men and impairs their usefulness as citizens is 
injurious to both them and the State, and is, there- 
fore, unwise, and defeats the object of the State in 
educating them. 

The history of the Ethiopian race, if it demon- 
strates anything, demonstrates this, that the race is 
naturally non-progressive. The Egyptian is the 
most ancient civilization of which we have a history. 
Egypt was located in Northern Africa, and extended 
south to Abyssinia, to the very door of Ethiopia. 
Yet the Ethiopian never came out after this civili- 



Written in 1887. 
16 



240 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

zation, nor did it ever penetrate his country and 
elevate him. That civilization was succeeded by the 
Assyrian, or Babylonian, which stretched over 
Egypt and Northern Africa; and yet it never threw a 
ray o f light into Ethiopia. When Grecian civilization 
took the place of the Babylonian, and Alexandria, 
at the mouth of the Nile, became the central point 
of learning, Ethiopia remained as benighted as be- 
fore. When the Grecian gave place to the Roman, 
the Roman civilization hovered over Egypt, North- 
ern Africa and the Mediterranean Sea, still Ethiopia 
neither sought nor received any of its light. Finally 
when that in turn was succeeded by Christian civili- 
zation Ethiopia remained equally closed to its intel- 
lectual, moral and social progressiveness. Nor has 
Mohammedanism, which was a tremendous step 
backward in civilization as compared with the 
Christian, and yet vastly in advance of Ethiopia, 
been able to accomplish anything in dispersing the 
impenetrable darkness which has ever shrouded 
Ethiopia. The Ethiopia of thirty-five centuries ago 
is the Ethiopia of today; and hence history for 
these thirty-five centuries demonstrates that the na- 
tive Ethiopian is non-progressive; and more, the 
history of the exported Ethiopian proves beyond 
successful contradiction, that as a race (there may 
be individual exceptions) these people have attained 
their greatest intellectual, social and moral develop- 
ment, in other words reached their highest civiliza- 
tion, where they have been most in contact with and 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 241 

most under the influence of another and superior 
race; and in proportion as they are removed from 
these influences, in the same proportion they tend 
to develop their native fetichism. We think it is a 
sound logical deduction that when a race for thirty- 
five centuries shows that it has so slight a regard 
for the higher order of development that while civil- 
ization is at its very door for that length of time, it 
will not seek after it nor introduce it, that there is a 
native want of ability to acquire and appreciate it 
and, therefore, while there may be individual excep- 
tions, the Negro race has not the native ability to 
occupy the more elevated plane of development. 

But if he had this native ability, in the United 
States (and it is equally true North, South, East 
and West), surrounding circumstances will inevit- 
ably compel the Negro race, as a race, to occupy a 
lower plane and fill in part the manual labor depart- 
ment of our great business machinery. The preju- 
dices of a superior and controlling race will never 
consent for our professional and government offi- 
cials to be chosen from an inferior race. 

Concluding as we do from the above facts and de- 
ductions, that native inability and a dominant senti- 
ment in a superior race will inevitably rule the Negro 
race out of the more intellectual into the manual 
department of labor and business, the practical ques- 
tion is, what system of education is best calculated 
to make him most contented as a man and most 
useful as a citizen? Millions will, no doubt, be 



242 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

spent, both by State and individuals, more sanguine 
than wise, before sound practical views will take the 
place of wild, visionary theories. Sensible men edu- 
cate their sons specially for the profession or occu- 
pation which they are to follow. Would not a man 
be considered little less than crazy to send his son 
to a law school to learn the theory and practice of 
medicine, and vice versa? or to a music school to 
learn practical civil, or military engineering? Is a 
State wise to violate this rule of common sense? 
Now if the postulate with which this article starts 
is sound, and we think it is beyond question, and his- 
tory demonstrates the native inability of the Negro 
race to occupy the higher plane of intellectual, social 
and moral development, and if he had the ability, 
surrounding circumstances in the United States 
would inevitably forbid his occupying such a posi- 
tion, is not an educational policy adopted by the 
State, which lifts his anticipations beyond the pos- 
sible point of realization, calculated to make the 
Negro, as a man, dissatisfied with the inevitable, and 
consequently less safe and useful as a citizen; and 
should not the State, therefore, in justice to him and 
to itself, shape its educational policy so as to make 
him most contented in the position he must of neces- 
sity occupy, and make him most useful as a citizen 
in it? Any system of education which makes a man 
less happy and more worthless and dangerous to the 
State is disastrous to both. A wise system of State 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 243 

education must be based upon general rules and 
principles, and not upon exceptions. 

Whatever may be your theory as to the equal 
rights of citizens, the Negro race will be practically 
excluded from the higher intellectual plane in the 
United States, and must of necessity occupy the 
manual labor department of its great business ma- 
chinery. This will be more and more so, as sec- 
tional prejudices abate and race distinctions, if not 
prejudices, assert their inevitable and natural sov- 
ereignty. From the foregoing facts and deductions 
we conclude that all schools for the Negro race, sup- 
ported by the State, should be technical, and this 
technicality should be directed specially to qualify 
the pupils, both mentally and physically, for manual 
labor occupations in life. By mental, we mean both 
intellectual culture, such as reading, writing and 
ciphering, sufficient to transact business efficiently 
in the manual labor department of life, and the cul- 
tivation of contentment in the anticipation of occu- 
pying it. Colleges, established by the State, to in- 
struct them in the higher and more abstruse depart- 
ments of science, we think, are unwise, first, because 
the learning these institutions would impart cannot 
be practically utilized; and second, by lifting the 
hopes and expectations of the pupils beyond the 
reach of possible gratification, they create discon- 
tent, and consequently cause the pupils to be less 
safe and useful to the State as good citizens. Many 
leave such institutions thinking themselves qualified 



244 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

to be scientists, professional or high government 
officials, and when disappointed are too proud to 
work, too poor to live honestly without work, and 
become nuisances, as so called literary tramps. A 
realization of this, it is said, caused Marion to bid 
farewell to Lincoln College, not only without a sigh, 
or a tear, but with a heartfelt relief. 

As stated in the postulate, the object of any sys- 
tem of education adopted by the State, should be 
the most personal contentment and the greatest use- 
fulness of any and all classes of its citizens : these 
two objects secured, and the whole duty of the State 
in educating them is performed. We firmly believe 
the system we have suggested meets, and it alone 
can meet the two requisites to be found in the postu- 
late. 

But it will be said, one system of schools estab- 
lished by the State for the colored, and another for 
the white pupils would be class legislation, and, 
therefore, unconstitutional. If the letter, and not 
the spirit and intent of the Constitution, decided the 
question, it may be so ; but certainly the spirit and 
intent of the Constitution are, and should be, to 
secure the most individual contentment and the 
highest usefulness, as citizens, to all races and classes 
making up the body politic. Can that in any proper 
sense be partial, or a class system of education, 
which has in view and is so adapted as to promote 
the highest happiness and usefulness of all the citi- 
zens of the State? Is there not a oneness of pur- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 245 

pose, adapted to different conditions, equally appli- 
cable to all? A Constitution contravening this ob- 
ject defeats its own intention, which is to promote 
and protect the public good, and is not, as every 
Constitution should be, founded in a sound public 
policy. If to promote the highest happiness of the 
greatest number of individual citizens, and to do 
this in all classes and races, is unconstitutional, then 
such a constitution, Federal or State, is a misfor- 
tune and should be abolished, or changed so as to 
be animated by a sound public policy. 

The forgoing views may be in advance of the 
times, as was Copernicus' revolving system of the 
Universe and Harvey's theory of circulation, but we 
firmly believe that the future will demonstrate that 
they are founded in the highest wisdom. 



PART IV 
LETTERS 




Laura Croom Hill. 



Montgomery, Alabama, Jan. 24, 1861. 

Dear Miss Laura: I arrived safely in Mont- 
gomery this evening. No incident of importance 
transpired to interest you. I had a plenty of com- 
pany and under ordinary circumstances, it would 
have been good, for it was both intellectual and so- 
cial; but still I was lonely. The subjects of con- 
versation and themes of thought upon the social 
topics, that interested others around me, interested 
me but little. Not that they were not in and of 
themselves deeply interesting, but because my mind 
was occupied with a subject much more intensely so 
to me; and upon the principle that a faint ray of 
light is drowned in the superior effulgence of a vivid 
one, they largely lost their interest. Thus you will 
see, though lonely, I was not without entertainment ; 
but it was an entertainment of my own, from which 
all around were excluded — it was the entertainment 
of thought upon the dearest object and happiest 
event of my future life. Yet will you pardon me 
when I say it was not altogether pleasurable ? The 
object was so, and the event was so, intensely so, 
but the delay in the possession of that object and in 
reaching the event dashed the cup of thought with 
an element of pain. 

What a fine thing it is, Miss Laura, that thought 
is inaudible ! Had it not been, I had made laughable 
and involuntary disclosures of many a secret during 

249 



250 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

that trip, for I thought so intensely that I am quite 
sure it almost became sonorous. 

The Highest Authority says, "Out of the abund- 
ance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Mine was 
an exceptional case, but it was so because the ear in 
which I desired to pour the stream of thought was 
absent. Do you know whose ear that was ? Guess ! 
and if it were not anti-professional I would lay a 
large wager that you would guess shrewdly. 

These are times and occasions when the mind is 
impressed with peculiar emphasis by analogies. This 
is one with me : it is now Winter, the season in 
which Nature is wrapped in a winding sheet of ice 
and snow ; the flowers are afraid to lift their heads 
and uncover their sweet faces above their parent bed ; 
the buds have shrunk back and hid themselves under 
a barky covering ; and the little forest minstrels, as 
if in sympathy with the season, have hung up their 
harps, and ceased to carol in the orchestral hedge. 
Still a happier and gayer season is betokened — the 
sun has passed his Winter solstice ; the adventurous 
little hyacinth (to me a flower of sweet memory) 
and violet, at the call of an approaching vernal sun, 
have opened their soft eyes and looked out from 
their wintry homes — harbingers of Spring, when 
our world shall be costumed in flowers and float in 
a balmy sea of vernal light. So at present a social 
Winter is around me, the icicles of indifference hang 
about my home, nor is music there. Still a thou- 
sand thanks to you, Miss Laura! a happier, gayer 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 251 

season is approaching, your kindness and sympathy 
have given me sweeter harbingers of it than even 
the hyacinth or violet, and I look forward ere long 
to the ushering in of two Springs — a Spring of 
flowers upon the face of Nature, and a Spring of 
joys in my own heart. 

As to news we have none of importance since I 
saw you. I have not even seen a confirmation of 
that relating to the action of the Foreign Minister 
at Washington, as reported by telegraph some days 
since; but the public impression decidedly favors a 
peaceable adjustment of our political difficulties at 
this time. 

The noun "Miss," which precedes your name and 
is synonymous with it, at the head of this letter, is 
unpleasantly formal. I wish you would authorize 
me to drop the Miss, and write, Laura, without so 
formal a handle in my next letter. I had like to 
have done so without authority in this letter. 

Happy hopes by day and pleasurable dreams by 
night to you! My kindest regards to your sister, 
Mrs. Tunstall, and her family. 

Yours most fondly, 

Luther L. Hill. 

Montgomery, Alabama, Jan. 27, 1861. 
Dear Miss Laura : Tomorrow morning I leave 
for Jonesville, the name of one of my places ; hence 
drop you a line tonight as I shall be absent several 
days. 



252 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

Nor consider me disrespectful of the Sabbath. 
Were I with you I should surely talk, and writing 
is only a slow substitute for talking. It is a relief 
to a brain burdened with thought, and a heart op- 
pressed with feeling. It is the indulgence of the 
sweetest imaginary companionship, which by a 
pleasing delusion savors of reality. Both head and 
heart are elevated and edified by it. But if you will 
still censure me for it, then consider this letter a 
commentary upon Scripture, for it was long since 
said by the best Judge in the Universe, "It is not 
well for man to be alone," and this shall be my text. 
If it was true when said, how much more emphati- 
cally so now ? At that time man was in a peaceful 
relation to his Maker, his heart had not conceived, 
nor his hand done the work of sin; and the smile 
of God was upon him. His home was Paradise, 
upon which an unbeclouded, bright and genial sun 
shone by day ; by night a moon dressed it with silver 
streams, and the stars opened their bright eyes and 
looked down upon it with admiration. Gentle 
zephyrs fanned it by day ; by night hospitable damps 
adorned it with a thousand refreshing dew-bells. 
Sweet flowers bloomed there, and shed their fra- 
grance upon the lips of every breeze that caressingly 
kissed them in passing by. Evergreens gracefully 
waved their green curtains by, or flung their lovely 
arches across his walks. Mossy couches invited him 
to repose under umbrageous bowers. Silver streams 
and crystal founts murmured beneath his feet, or 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 253 

gushed up at his side, inviting him to drink and live 
forever. Fruits were pendent from the fingers of 
every bower tempting him to luxurious feasting. 
The sweet singers of the forest burdened the winds 
with the softest melody. In a word, the scene was 
so lovely that God strolled there morning and even- 
ing in loving companionship with man, and angels 
were seen tripping down the starry stairway of 
Heaven to breathe its pure air, to dwell amid its 
happy scenes, and to leave their blessed benediction 
upon man, now innocent, the noble, unmarred, intel- 
lectual, social, and moral image of his Maker. Still 
said his Maker, "It is not well for man to be alone," 
his happiness is not complete ; nor is it so, until Eve 
is at his side. If it was true then, with how much 
more emphasis is it so now, when, alas! clouds 
hover over the face of the sun, the star-spangled 
heavens are swept by the tempests, the winds 
freighted with miasmatic death, the basilisk coils 
beneath, and mingles its pestiferous breath with the 
sweet aroma of flowers, the companionship of God 
and angels withdrawn, Paradise lost, his innocence 
and peace gone, and his heart the habitation of sin 
and sorrow. You must not charge me with extrava- 
gance, Miss Laura, when I say, man is happier out 
of Eden with his Eve, than in it without her; for 
God has said it is not well that man should be alone 
in Eden, but He has never said it was not well with 
him out of it, and with her. Eden I have none; but 



254 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

humble as my home is, it would have Eden's charms 
for me, if my Eve were there. 
Telegraphic department : 

Louisiana seceded yesterday. 

Mr. T. J. Judge has been appointed Commissioner 
to Washington for Alabama. 

Mr. Chase, who superintended the building of 
Fort Pickens and commands the Florida troops, 
gives it as his opinion that one hundred men in the 
fort could not be taken by five thousand, without 
the loss of at least twenty-five hundred of the as- 
sailants. 

A petition headed by Messrs. Everett and Win- 
throp, with fourteen hundred names attached, is 
before Congress for peace measures. 

It is proposed in the House of Representatives 
that all the present members of Congress resign and 
a new election held by the 4th of March, as it is 
thought the present Congress does not represent the 
views of the Northern people. 

I sincerely hope you are well and will write by 
return mail. 

Yours most fondly, 

Luthkr L. Hill. 

Montgomery, Alabama, Feb. 2, 1861. 

Dear Miss Laura: The answer has come at 

last, after long delay, but infinitely better late than 

never; accept my thanks and be assured it received 

a hearty greeting. Hope had begun to languish and 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 255 

fear to revive, and anticipation was fast becoming 
a medley of pleasure and pain. Nor was supersti- 
tion itself idle. The winds have been damp, and if 
not cold, chilly; the heavens have been palled in 
wintry clouds ; only for a day or two has the cloudy 
veil been rolled back from the face of the sun, and 
his golden surplice allowed to trail upon our lovely 
little city ; and then again chilling winds, frowning 
clouds, occasionally muttering thunders, and the 
lurid glare of restless lightning. Pardon the weak- 
ness ! Superstition inquired, has this a meaning, is 
it language addressed to the ear of thought, is it 
Providence speaking through symbols, endowing 
the winds, clouds, thunder and lightning with pro- 
phetic tongues to indicate by the interlude a day of 
bright, balmy Spring, and then a life of Winter 
upon my hopes ? What a wrestle between hope and 
superstitious fear, each claiming to be the true and 
authorized interpreter, and how conflicting their in- 
terpretations ! Fear claimed your silence as con- 
clusive in its favor; hope, stimulated by intense de- 
sire, urged your firmness and faltered with the 
thought that deep feeling might lie back of an im- 
penetrable veil of modesty; but thanks to you, Miss 
Laura, while thus halting between hope and fear, 
the timely arrival of your little messenger is an- 
nounced, and by it a living inspiration is breathed 
into the former, while the latter vanishes as the 
morning dews or evening clouds. Now, I beg of 
you, suspect me not of a want of confidence in your 
17 



256 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

constancy of purpose, because of the foregoing hon- 
est and frank confession of my feelings. Rather 
attribute it to the intense interest I felt, rendering 
me delicately, if not morbidly sensitive — the interest 
we feel in an enterprise is the true scale by which to 
graduate the activities of our hopes and fears. 
When interest and affection are intense they are 
correspondingly so. 

You allude to a snow-storm and snow-balling. 
My nerves almost quiver that you were engaged in 
it. I have terrible reminiscences of a similar amuse- 
ment. With me neuralgia and snow-storms and 
snow-balling are indissolubly associated. However 
in this case, I hope you were more fortunate than 
I ; and, like the bee that extracts often the sweetest 
honey from poisonous flowers, you extracted the 
amusement and left the neuralgia behind. By the 
way, that must be a cold country of yours. It makes 
me almost chilly to think of two snows in one Win- 
ter. We have not had one. Ours must be a more 
genial climate than yours. I wish you could be in- 
duced to make an early experiment of its balmy 
character. Look out for an importunate invitation 
when I see you on Tuesday or Wednesday next. 
Verily, I believe I could for once be eloquent upon 
the subject of place and climate, if I did not think 
you almost cruelly inexorable. 

It is thought war is becoming both certain and 
imminent ; still I can but hope for peace. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 257 

If I thought you would bear them, I would send 
my kindest regards not only to your sister and fam- 
ily, but to Mr. and Mrs. Harvey; but if you will 
not bear them, accept them and infinitely more your- 
self, and oblige 

Yours fondly, 

Luther L. Hill. 

Montgomery, Alabama, Feb. 14, 1861. 

Dear Miss Laura : I reached Montgomery last 
evening, without any incident of interest, and in 
tolerable health only, having suffered severely with 
a cold. The town is comparatively quiet, though 
many strangers are here, and Congress is still in ses- 
sion. Inflammatory excitement seems to have ex- 
pended itself except with a few, who are enraged 
that Tennessee should have gone for the Union and 
no convention by an overwhelming majority. 
Others are simply saddened by it; and some again 
rejoice that it is so. 

It is a matter of curious study to see how men, 
having a unity of interest, differ as to the means for 
its protection. Their opinions are as different as 
their faces, and happily it is so : As by the collision 
of stone against stone, light is eliminated, so by the 
collision of mind against mind truth is developed; 
and as by friction the beauty of a precious gem is more 
and more brightened, so truth, under the friction of 
thought from different minds, unfolds more and 
more its grandeur and glory. Besides, what a mo- 



258 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

notonous world ours would be without diversity! 
Variety is stamped by a kind Providence upon 
everything beneath, around, above, and within us; 
and it is this that lends untiring interest and en- 
chantment to every department of science. It re- 
poses in geology beneath us ; it revels in philosophy 
around us ; it twinkles in the stars above us ; and is 
imbosomed in thought and feeling within us. And 
wonderfully deep is the Providential wisdom, that, 
out of this apparently endless complication of dis- 
cord, brings the most perfect harmony and unity. 

Verily, Miss Laura, what a wayward thing mind 
is! I started to tell you of the different effect the 
same news had upon the feelings and opinions of 
different men, and before I am aware of it, thought 
has wandered off into the maze of philosophy; and 
lest you, as you surely will, discover that I am away 
from home there, I sound a hasty retreat, and 
marching to the tune of a double-quick step, take 
leave of the subject — only adding that I am in- 
tensely happy in the fact, that while a unity of taste 
caused many to become suitors at a certain lady's 
court, none of them presented the variety that awak- 
ened her's, until the party came forward who ex- 
pects and hopes to be the happiest man in the world 
on the 27th inst. "Tempus fugit" is an old saying, 
but with me it will loiter until the above date. 

Excuse me for troubling you upon a matter of 
taste. I am aware that dress suits are usually worn 
on nuptial occasions, but I have never admired 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 259 

them, and particularly upon tall persons. I am, 
therefore, greatly tempted to deviate from ordinary 
usage ; but I desire your taste shall be consulted and 
control my action. In your reply I hope you will 
relieve me by an expression of your wishes; and 
answer at once lest the occasion catch me without 
any suit at all. 

My kindest regards to your sister and her family. 
Yours most fondly, 

Luther L. Hill. 

P. S. When we parted last you said something 
about writing French. Tip off each end of your 
letter with French, but give me the body of it in 
good old English, as I shall be so anxious for the 
ideas I cannot stop to search a lexicon for a word. 

P. S. No. 2. Have you proposed to your sister to 
accompany you to Mobile and elsewhere; and if so, 
what has she concluded to do? 

L. L. H. 

Montgomery, Alabama, Feb. 18, 1861. 
Dear Miss Laura : This has been a gala day in 
Montgomery. The President-elect was made the 
President in fact, at one o'clock p. m. The day was 
ushered in by the thundering of cannons, discharged 
by the different military companies quartered in 
various parts of the city. Some of them on their 
way to the Gulf and others to do honor to the occa- 
sion of the President's inauguration. Yesterday 
was cold, tempestuous and cloudy; but today has 



260 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

been genial, serene and clear. The face of Nature 
wore one of its sweetest smiles. I could but ask my- 
self if this favorable change was a symbolic inter- 
preter of the past and prophetic of the future — yes- 
terday typifying the political frosts, storms, and 
clouds we have passed through; and to-day fore- 
shadowing a genial, serene and cloudless political 
sky. As a pleasing prelude to the formation of the 
procession, about 9 a.m. the Columbus Guards en- 
tered the triangular space looking from the Ex- 
change Hotel towards the capitol, and entertained 
several thousand of our citizens, who were soon at- 
tracted there by the display of their skill in military 
evolutions. Competent military judges pronounced 
the performance unsurpassed, but thought it ques- 
tionable whether it was surpassable. Between 
eleven and twelve o'clock the cannon announced that 
the hour had arrived for the procession to form. 
The roll of the drum soon called the different 
companies to their post respectively assigned 
them. Red jackets, bottle-green jackets, and gray 
jackets formed a mingled ground, above which 
the brazen epaulets, gleaming swords, and bristling 
bayonets flashed in the sunbeams. The Presi- 
dent's carriage, drawn by six beautiful gray horses, 
was in the center of the military guard, with 
the city, state and congressional committees ap- 
pointed to honor him by their escort. A civic pro- 
cession brought up the rear; while the sidewalks 
were crowded with pedestrians, as you have, no 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 261 

doubt, often seen them on Broadway, New York 
City. At an early hour the people were seen flock- 
ing to Capitol Hill, in order that they might select 
situations favorable for hearing, observing, and be- 
ing observed ; for few thought to leave their vanity 
at home, and some, no doubt, thought they attracted 
quite as much attention as the President himself. 
Happy illusion that ! If I could, I would not cruelly 
break the spell for the world! The procession 
reached Capitol Hill at fifteen minutes to one 
o'clock. The hill was thronged with people, infants, 
boys, girls, youth, men and women in the meridian 
of manhood and womanhood, with the old and de- 
crepit, were all there. As a wag once said, he could 
not see the city because of the houses that were in it, 
so the hill could not be seen because of the people 
that were on it. 

The President delivered a short, manly and pithy 
inaugural address, and closed in the midst of en- 
thusiastic applause; and was then sworn in by Mr. 
Cobb, of Georgia, the President of Congress, and 
himself a man of very striking personal appear- 
ance. 

Well the hour is gone. I must say, good night! 
after having briefly talked with you of the exciting 
scenes of the day. It is reluctantly done; for be- 
lieve me sincere, when I say, I derive more happi- 
ness from an ideal companionship with you, than I 
do from the real companionship with any other liv- 
ing mortal. 



262 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

My kindest regards to your sister and her family. 
Yours most fondly, 

Luther L. Hill. 

Montgomery, Alabama, Feb. 23, 1861. 

Dear Miss Laura: Your favor of the 19th 
inst. is to hand by the morning mail. And verily, if 
I had waited for it, to settle that matter of taste, I 
had been under the necessity of "borrowing a morn- 
ing gown" of my "next friend" for a certain occa- 
sion. 

Your favor indeed was a favor. Judge of its 
hearty greeting when I assure you it was perused a 
half a dozen times at least in less than an hour; and 
how many more times it will be subjected to the 
same ordeal in the course of the day, some one who 
is wiser in relation to the future and rasher in ven- 
turing his opinions than I am, must answer. 

What a magic power there is in affection ! How 
it magnifies the smallest incidents in life ! The ad- 
ventures of a snow-storm, in the quietude of rural 
or village life, excite more vivid interest than the 
wildest romance, where the object most tenderly 
loved is associated with them. Though those 
storms have treated you rudely, and for years I have 
been inimical to them because of cruelty received 
from them; still it is manifest, you take them as 
caressing, and love them in their rudeness ; for your 
sake then, for the future, I declare myself on ami- 
cable relations to them, and forgive them the wrongs 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 263 

they have done me, for the happiness they have 
conferred on you. 

But the magic of affection does not stop here. Its 
creative power is as great as its sensibility is deli- 
cate. The mimosa must be touched by a material 
something, then it folds its leaves and droops until a 
genial sun and refreshing dews apparently bid it re- 
vive and smile again in hope. But affection, in- 
finitely more delicate, needs no material something 
to chill it, nor even acts. Imagination, always in- 
tensely active under its stimulus, or fear, Argus- 
eyed, by delusive visions or unfounded conceits, are 
adequate to the work; and circumstances — the fail- 
ure of the mail — convert the mind and heart into a 
machine shop, full of painful apprehensions; and 
again the letter as one this morning, and the heart 
is happy. Thus much of its sensibilities. 

But I said "the creative power of affection is as 
great as its sensibility." What interest and, in some 
instances, what immortality it clusters around a 
name ! The love of Petrarch has immortalized, and 
rendered the name, Laura, classic. On April 6, 
1327, he went to the Church of the Nuns of St. 
Clara, to pay his devotions to his God, but he re- 
turned the worshiper of the divinely beautiful 
Laura. For more than twenty years she was the 
idol of his heart, though he could never possess her; 
for before he saw her, she had given her heart to 
another. He struggled to drown the passion in am- 
bition, but he found his only ambition was her ad- 



264 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

miration. He labored to stifle it in the giddy whirl 
of a gay and fashionable world; an exile from so- 
ciety he sought relief from it in solitude, but all in 
vain. The result was that the graphic and creative 
genius of Petrarch has involuntarily sent the name 
down to posterity, with all there is vivid in imagina- 
tion, romantic in poetry, and tender in love 
clustering as celestial flowers around it. Unhappy 
Petrarch! Another had the heart of his Laura. 
Happy am I that my Laura's heart was free to be 
wooed and won. 

Most fondly, 

Luther L. Hill. 

Montgomery, Alabama, Dec. i, 1887. 
Governor Thomas Seay, 
State Capitol, 

Montgomery, Ala. 

Dear Sir : As this is written simply as a private, 
friendly letter, you will please excuse the absence of 
all official formality in addressing you. 

Since the interview I had with you some days ago 
in regard to Mr. B.'s case, I have made an indus- 
trious effort to sound public opinion in regard to the 
matter by personal inquiry through my sons and 
friends; and I have heard of but one man who 
would not approve of Mr. B.'s pardon being granted 
by you. 

I beg leave to submit to you the following rea- 
sons, as constituting a solid basis for your exercis- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 265 

ing your pardoning power in granting this man his 
freedom : 

1. His age: he is within one year of the Scrip- 
turally alloted age of man, he is sixty-nine years old. 

2. His constitution is naturally delicate and his 
health (I know for I have seen him since I saw you) 
is greatly impaired by confinement, trouble and anx- 
iety, and a habitual cough. 

3. He has already been punished by the confine- 
ment of twelve months; while, if I understood you 
correctly, he is actually sentenced for only six 
months. 

4. His confinement will be only a continued ex- 
pense to the State for which the State can get no 
equivalent good, for he is physically incompetent to 
do any profitable labor of any kind; and so far as 
making an example of him to intimidate other law- 
breakers is concerned, that is quite as complete now 
as it will be after his additional six months' sentence 
is served. 

5. Something should be credited to him for good 
citizenship for many years in the past. 

6. His personal mortification and humiliation 
cannot be increased, it is superlative in degree ; but 
he has a large and respectable family connection 
whose mortification can and will be increased by his 
being sent to the penitentiary; and therefore to 
let him go, would be to punish innocent collaterals, 
while the principal in the sin against law would es- 
cape. Mortification, Governor, is like grief. The 



266 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

writer many years ago lost a wife and three children 
within three weeks ; and when he pressed the corpse 
of the last child to his bosom and kissed it for the 
last time, his natural sensibilities were gone and he 
could feel, no more than the cold marble table upon 
which the corpse was placed, and he reproached 
himself that his grief could go no deeper. 

To try and get the public sentiment as fairly be- 
fore your mind as possible I will state an incident 
or two. This evening I asked one of our standard 
citizens, who is much more in sympathy with you 
as a man than Mr. B. (I think he has an aversion 
to Mr. B.), what he thought of the case and he re- 
plied, "I think it is barbarous not to pardon him, 
he is old, infirm and has been punished enough." 
One of my sons, who has been absent on military 
duty auxiliary to our quarantine, to whom I had not 
mentioned Mr. B., was discharged from duty today 
and went to his office ; and when he came home said 
to me, "Our Governor has stirred public opinion by 
his refusal to exercise executive clemency in the B. 
case." The Daily Dispatch was an ardent advocate 
of the Gambler's Law, and, if I am not mistaken, 
and I don't think I am, lent strong encouragement 
to the prosecution of Mr. B., when he was detected 
and arrested; but by reference to its issue of the 
28th you will find two articles indicating that the 
editor is now of the opinion that in his case the de- 
mands of the law are amply satisfied. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 267 

Now, Governor, I believe you conscientiously de- 
sire to do your duty and to act for the public good; 
but however exalted man's position may be, hu- 
manum est errare is still true; and therefore, if you 
will acquit me of presumption I will venture a sug- 
gestion or two for your reflection. The very high- 
est authority with both of us says, "in the multitude 
of counselors there is safety." If a high official, like 
yourself, has not a clear and positive conviction 
upon his mind, so that his conscience lays an im- 
perative obligation upon him, ruling him to a given 
action; but has even a shade of doubt upon it, with 
the might of public opinion on the side of that 
doubt, and mercy, too, along with it, is it wisest and 
best to accept the former or the latter horn of the 
dilemma? 

I feel so much the need of Divine mercy that it 
has long since been the fixed policy of my life, that 
if stern justice is on one side and tearful mercy on 
the other, and a doubt is on my mind, to cast my 
vote on mercy's side. "The mercy I to others show, 
Oh, God, that mercy show to me !" 

I have now, Governor, done my duty as friend to 
you and am satisfied you will conscientiously do 
yours. May God guide you to the wisest conclusion 
and prompt you to the best action ! 

Very respectfully, 

Luther h. Hill. 



268 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

Montgomery, Alabama, July 15, 1888. 
Mrs. Amelia Lyons, 
Mobile, Alabama. 
Dear Madame: The receipt of this letter from 
me will, no doubt, be a surprise to you. Though a 
bright sun may bathe your city in a balmy light, and 
cooling winds, from the Gulf, may fan her cheeks, 
I have little doubt but that clouds are floating over 
your mind ; and now and then fears, like an Italian 
sirocco, are scorching, or like the northern blast, are 
chilling your heart as your thoughts today, in pur- 
suit of one you tenderly love, are traversing the 
ocean between New York and Savannah. There are 
two mothers, strangers to each other, one the special 
guardian angel of her Lilly and the other of her 
Luther, who are silent and unseen but anxious pas- 
sengers of that ship which bears them to our great 
commercial metropolis. Nor am I an uninterested 
spectator of the progress of that ship. The anxiety 
of those two mothers' hearts will not end with that 
voyage. The union of your Lilly and Laura's Lu- 
ther has been, I know, profusely baptized in the tears 
of one of those mothers, for I have seen them, and 
I have reason to believe that union has been baptized 
in the tears of both of those mothers; and I trust 
that a baptism in tears, wrung out by the mingled 
love, fears, hopes and anxieties of two mothers' 
hearts, may be prophetic of happiness to them, as it is 
conclusive evidence that both of them have seen and 
felt the blessing of one modification of love, which 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 269 

should be a powerful stimulant to induce them to 
cultivate and cherish another modification of it as 
between themselves. Love is one and the same 
thing, only modified by differences of circumstances, 
relations and objects. Its essence, in every relation 
and under all circumstances, manifests itself in 
kindness, sympathy and the desire to bless and make 
happy the object loved. 

Having reasons to believe that some suggestions 
I have made to Laura have had a soothing effect 
upon her feelings and tended to relieve her fears 
and anxieties, it has occurred to me that I might be 
able in some degree to ease your anxieties, and this 
is my only object in this letter. My difficulties in 
this undertaking are greatly magnified and in- 
creased by my relation as a father to Luther, for 
first, the relation itself is a sort of natural bribe 
against sincerity, if it requires disparaging state- 
ments in regard to him ; and second, however hon- 
est a man might be, the relation of a father might 
naturally and unconsciously blind his judgment so 
that he really cannot see the faults in a son; and 
third, however honest and true his statements may 
be, because of the relation, he is never above sus- 
picion. For the above reasons my undertaking is 
hazardous ; but I am now above suspicion in saying 
anything auxiliary to the union, for it is an accom- 
plished fact for good or for evil to both. I lay 
these down as unquestionable facts. 



270 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

God being the Judge, there is more happiness in 
the married than in the unmarried state, for He 
said, "it is not well for man to be alone," and if this 
is true of man it is also true of woman, for it is im- 
possible for a husband to be happy who has an un- 
happy wife — such happiness in every instance is gal- 
vanized endurance. 

Marriage is the natural state. Nature may be 
reasonably restrained and trained to advantage, but 
the man or woman who annuls her laws and alto- 
gether suppresses her instincts must sooner or later 
pay the cost of such rashness; and as marriage is 
the natural state, old bachelors and old maids are 
rarely, if ever, content and happy, and hence, as I 
have said to Laura of Luther, so I suggest to you of 
Lilly, while marriage involves the risk of unhappi- 
ness, bachelorship and old-maidenhood makes it al- 
most certain, and hence neither mother should be 
distressed because the dearly loved son of the one 
and the darling and idolized daughter of the other 
have taken the greater number of chances for con- 
tentment and happiness in life, and hope rather than 
dread should be the artist to give coloring to their 
future lives before the eye of the maternal mind 
and heart. 

Of Luther you know but little, of Lilly, Laura 
knows less, never having seen her; but be it gladly 
said in justice to her that all Laura has ever heard 
has been highly complimentary of Lilly. Of Luther 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 271 

it involves very great delicacy and embarrassment 
for me to write, whether it be good or bad. Lilly's 
happiness primarily depends upon him, but may be 
secondarily to some degree affected by his immedi- 
ate family connections. In his case this is certainly 
a very favorable circumstance in her favor — she has 
beyond all doubt more control over his sympathy 
and feelings than any other woman has ever had; 
she has been, like his shadow, constantly with him 
since he first saw her. He is far from being perfect ; 
no mortal is so, and I somewhat fear her feelings 
have exaggerated his good qualities, and may be, in- 
vested him with some of which he is not possessed, 
so as to put her at the risk of disappointment ; but I 
think you may rest assured of this, that his devotion 
to her will stimulate him to his best effort to make 
her happy, and if he fails it will be because he has 
not the natural adaptation to make her so. I think 
their affection is mutual and ardent, and, as the 
Highest Authority says, "Love (charity) shall 
cover the multitude of faults (sins)," we will hope 
that ninety-nine cases in the one hundred are in 
favor of their happiness. 

So far as his family connections are concerned I 
am quite sure I risk nothing in saying that she will 
be greeted as one of them and receive the same sym- 
pathy and kindness that they extend one to the 
other, and it will be the effort of Laura and myself 
18 



272 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

to place her in our affection upon the same footing 
with our own dearly beloved Bessie. 

Very respectfully, 

Luther L. Hill. 

The above letter was written just after the marriage of Mr. 
Hill's oldest son to Miss Lyons, of Mobile, Ala., and while 
they were on their wedding tour. 

Montgomery, Alabama, July 2, 1889. 
To Laura and the Children: The following 
are the last requests which I make of my wife and 
children : 

1. I earnestly desire that no external sign of 
mourning be worn, on my account, by either male 
or female members of my family. 

2. I desire to be buried in a plain pine coffin ; and 
that the whole expense of burial and funeral shall 
not exceed fifty dollars. For funeral pageantry I 
have no fancy. I desire, if possible, to go out of the 
world as privately as I came into it. At most let the 
burial service be read; and I am indifferent as to 
whether this shall be done by one of the clergy, or 
a believing friend. Let those who lay my body 
away for its long, long sleep be TRUE friends. I 
ask nothing more for myself. 

3. For my children's sake, I beg of them that they 
will be united and co-operative ; for in union there is 
strength. Remember the fable of the dying father, 
his sons and the bundle of straws. 

4. For you happiness, no less than your mother's, 
I most earnestly intreat you that the kindness of 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 273 

each one of you, to her, may be unremitting during 
her life; for no children were ever blessed with a 
more self-sacrificing and devoted mother than you 
are. Neglect of her will be suicide to you. 

5. I leave this paper also as a testimonial that I 
have done the best I could for my children. 

6. I commend you all to the mercy and blessing 
of God. 

Luther L. Hill. 



Just an hour before the death of Mr. Hill he called his en- 
tire family to his bedside and bade them good-bye and prayed 
for them, and told them where the above paper was to be 
found in his desk, and requested that no preparations or plans 
should be made for his funeral and burial until this paper 
should be read. 



APPENDIX 



NOTE 

As this book is published for private circulation 
and with no intention whatever of allowing the sa- 
credness of its purpose to be profaned by monetary 
considerations, it has been thought wise to send 
forth, as an appendix to "The Sermons, Addresses 
and Papers of Luther L. Hill," a sermon and an ad- 
dress of his father, William Wallace Hill. 

The address is the answer of William W. Hill to 
the charge of "Inveighing against discipline and sow- 
ing dissension in societies," because he, with a num- 
ber of others, sought representation for the laity 
and local preachers in the conference of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church. It is interesting to note that 
this representation has been granted, and that the 
soundness of the position taken by these men in 
1825 has been recognized. 



276 



ADDRESS OF WILLIAM W. HILL DELIV- 
ERED IN HIS OWN DEFENSE 

NOTICE FROM REV. BENJAMIN EDGE 

I, Benjamin Edge, assistant preacher, Matamuskeet Banks 
and Island Circuit, send this to notify and request you to at- 
tend at the chapel in Matamuskeet on next Sunday, the 7th 
day in August, A. D. 1825, to appear before a committee of 
local preachers and before the assistant preacher of the cir- 
cuit, for the express purpose of answering to the charge of 
trying to sow dissension in our society, in this quarter and in 
some other places, and inveighing against some of our rules 
and church government. You can withdraw under church 
censure if you see proper, if you do it in a formal manner. 
The time appointed for the committee to meet is at half-past 
8 o'clock. I am a friend to all true Christians. 

B. Edge. 

N. B. This was directed on the back to "Rev. Wm. W. Hill, 
Hyde County, N. C, Matamuskeet." 

ADDRESS OF REV. MR. HILL BEFORE THE 
COMMITTEE IN HIS OWN DEFENSE. 

FRIENDS AND BRETHREN : This action 
and the ground upon which it is sustained 
crowns me with laurels far beyond my 
deserts. To be identified with prophets, apostles, 
martyrs, and the illustrious patriots of all ages and 
nations, who have bravely resisted tyranny, is a 
summit of glory to which my humble pretensions 
never aspired. But here, on the very ground conse- 
crated by the blood of brave Americans, my contend- 

277 



278 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

ing for the right of suffrage is construed into moral 
treason, for which I am arrested. You, the sons of 
intrepid veterans, baptized in the blood of slaugh- 
tered parents, are called upon to punish as a crime 
in me the act of contending for the right of suffrage 
for which your fathers expired. From the shade of 
that laurel with which the genius of your country 
shelters her children, and under which she invites 
the oppressed and suffering sons of Europe to re- 
joice and repose, from this shade I am dragged by 
the grasp of an oppressor before a tribunal, and 
I stand arraigned as a capital offender. Happy, ohl 
thrice happy am I, when on the one hand I behold 
the tribunal before which I stand, and on the other 
I mark the counts in the bill of indictment. In the 
patriotism of that congregation composed of the 
descendants of those gallant men who lashed from 
their shores the galleys of a civil tyrant, and in the 
love and justice of that committee, composed of 
generous spirits doubly free, free from civil and ec- 
clesiastical domination, free from spiritual tyranny, 
having been emancipated by the Spirit of God, I 
feel doubly secure. But, friends, mark the items in 
this death-warrant — first, endeavoring to sow dis- 
sensions in our societies, in this quarter and else- 
where; and, secondly, inveighing against some of 
our rules of church government. Oh ! what ground 
of exultation. Oh ! that I was as pure as this arrest 
would make me. From all that here occurs, I am 
white as snow and bright as a sunbeam; yet the 




William Wallace Hill. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 279 

punishment demanded by the plea, and claimed by 
the judge at your hands, is official death. After all 
the vigilance of a regular combination and deep-laid 
conspiracy against my official life and character, not 
a vestige of evidence supports the allegation. But, 
friends, if advocating the right of suffrage be sow- 
ing dissension, and contending that lordly combina- 
tions in the Church of Christ are incompatible with 
the religion of Jesus, then indeed I am guilty of the 
crime for which patriots have bled and martyrs ex- 
pired. 

Wretched indeed is the policy of that church 
which must be screened from investigation by gag- 
laws, or protected against opposition by a wall of 
bayonets. Is this the character which he gives you 
of Methodism? If so, her interest requires that he 
should be the culprit and I the prosecutor. But, 
friends, why should we float upon the surface of this 
business ? Let us dive to the bottom of this deep- 
laid conspiracy, which strikes at once at the pros- 
perity of our church and the freedom of our coun- 
try. We this day touch a remote link of a vastly 
extended and fearful combination. This freedom 
of investigation, this devotedness to equal rights, 
this opposition to lordly encroachments, for which 
he wishes you to inflict a signal punishment on me, 
is not the business of a corner nor the reverie of a 
few factious minds, as he would have you believe, 
but the work of regular associations, and the boast 
and glory of thousands of the greatest and best men 



280 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

belonging to our church. If I mistake not, men who 
are now devoted to the reformation for which I 
contend, were true to the cause of Methodism when 
the oldest bishop now in the itinerancy revolted 
against her. Why have not the bishops, arrayed 
with their itinerant legions, assailed the editorial 
committee of the "Mutual Rights," or the other as- 
sociated societies of the reformers, and crushed this 
rising Atlas at a stroke ? Ah, no ! they are but too 
conscious that they would be compelled to retire from 
the assault, like the waves of ocean from a massy 
rock, foaming in confusion. Why then does he at- 
tempt an achievement which the host of his itinerant 
brethren durst not touch with their little finger? 
He has rashly calculated upon your weakness and 
his own strength. With all the ambition and none 
of the skill of Napoleon, he seeks to divide and then 
devour. He drags from the dungeon of despotism 
the chain of his vengeance, and bids you to rivet it 
on my hands ; to paralyze my tongue with the frost 
of official death, that I might talk no more of 
Heaven, of Jesus, and of freedom, would be the sum- 
mit of his ambition. Yes, friends, the conclave to 
which he belongs has found me of some use to my 
reforming brethren in this State (pardon this ego- 
tism), and he views me as the shield of freedom 
and of mutual rights in this section of country. 
And the materials of which he is made (he being in 
a great degree devoid of politeness, delicacy and 
sensibility) qualify him to be a tool in their hands; 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 281 

and as a sort of subaltern or dragoon, the object of 
his mission, I doubt not, is to harpoon me from the 
church, and pluck up at once the germ of reforma- 
tion in this section of country. But I trust you will 
this day detect his ambition, and exhibit his pre- 
sumption to naked view, with all its appalling de- 
formities, that it may be whipped through the world 
with the lash of every generous spirit. And that he 
may accomplish this work of spiritual havoc the more 
successfully he comes under the plausible appellation 
of a brother. If he be a brother, it must be by the 
bonds of religious love, for the ties of consanguin- 
ity must be vastly remote. But mark his cold, icy 
visage : do you behold the rosy glow of sensibility 
suffuse his cheek, or the tear of sympathy pearl 
along his visage? Do you behold his bosom swell 
with the lacerated feelings of an afflicted man who 
sees a brother about to be immolated? No; but 
with a sort of stupid sullenness he pants for bar- 
barous triumph; while those little sunken, languid 
blue flames under his forehead glimmer with the 
lashes of the inquisition. Is his conduct better than 
his looks ? Has he followed me with the arguments, 
importunities and remonstrances of an aggrieved 
brother? Where is the man whom he united with 
himself in this expedition of love to rescue a wan- 
dering brother from error, and bring him back to 
the right way? No, not a word ever escaped his 
lips to me on the subject before this day. When he 
passed up the circuit last a sort of soliloquy reached 



282 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

my hands, having his name affixed, which I should 
not have known was designed for my perusal had 
not my name been appended to its back; and before 
he received my answer he issued his arrest. This I 
received on Friday evening, demanding my attend- 
ance at half-past eight o'clock the ensuing Sabbath, 
at which time I had an appointment for two days' 
meeting twenty miles from home. No allowance 
was made for the arrangement of a defence, the col- 
lection of testimony, nor the adjustment of busi- 
ness; but with the promptitude of an eastern slave 
I must obey this pigmy lord, and leave the world 
behind. To cap the climax of his brotherhood, he 
dragged from Carrituck, a distance of thirty odd 
miles, this man David Ellis (with whom I have di- 
vided my bread and purse, and whose hands I have 
borne up in this assembly), and drilled him as the 
creature of his vengeance for the havoc of this day, 
while other brethren of far more experience and 
talents lived within a few miles of the scene of trial; 
and that he might secure a majority of three he has 
duped this old Israelite into his deadly policy; a 
man with whom I have passed ten years of uninter- 
rupted union, and for whom I could almost have 
died. And in your presence this man has endeav- 
ored to act the double part of prosecutor and juror. 
And if blackness can be added to this portrayal of 
darkness, this very man, Benjamin Edge, calling 
himself brother, minister of Christ, assistant 
preacher, has ambushed all my peregrinations in 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 283 

social circles of neighborhood conviviality, through 
which I have passed with all the hilarity and cheer- 
fulness of conscious innocence; he has entered with 
all the subtlety and venom of a serpent. He has 
entered into private families and scraped the neigh- 
borhood in quest of materials to secure his deadly 
purpose, He has violated all rules of politeness by 
seeking to pry into private conversations through all 
possible mediums. Is this the minister of peace, the 
herald of Jesus, going about like his Lord and Mas- 
ter to do good? Tell it not in Gath, publish it not 
in Askelon. Oh ! how my heart sickens at the sight 
of this mystery of iniquity. And that nothing may 
be wanting to complete this spectacle of horror, you 
are called upon to aid in this work of domineering 
vengeance. You, with whom I have spent ten years 
of the most unsullied communion ; you, with whom 
I have often shared the most hallowed emblems of 
love, the broken body and shed blood of Christ ; yes, 
you with whom ten years of my life have passed as 
softly away as if I had glided on a river of oil; 
you, with whom I might have softly slept in Jesus 
had not this disturber come, are called upon to dip 
your hands in the blood of a brother who never 
wished you wrong. But, oh ! destruction stops not 
here. Each one of us is the centre of a little com- 
munity, around which a domestic circle plays. We 
expect to hand our names over to future ages, and 
to live in the persons of others, when these bodies, 
now rosy, nervous and gay, are dissolved and mo- 



284 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

tionless in the dust; nevertheless you are called 
upon for a verdict which must fester in the hearts 
of our descendants to the fourth generation, and 
fling a baleful hue upon the distant scenery of future 
ages. All this for what ? That I may be bound as 
a victim upon the altar of that man's ambition 
whose hand trembles to slay me. And what is Ben- 
jamin Edge? A passing cloud, a bird of flight, an 
atom in the breeze, a bubble upon the stream of na- 
ture, which must shortly burst and vanish away, a 
scapegoat of the wilderness, turned loose to wander 
through the earth and leave no trace behind. And 
yet, you, the substantialities of civil and religious 
society ; you, the connecting links between the pres- 
ent and future ages, are called upon to give up a 
member of your own body, a brother, to the vaga- 
ries of this vanishing shade. And should you obey 
his wishes, what account will you give to the tri- 
bunal of your own conscience when you retrospect 
the work of this day, and survey a brother, an inno- 
cent man, without a shadow of blame, transfixed by 
your sentence, and laid low in the dust? What ac- 
count will you render to the free, intrepid spirits 
of this assembly, whose eyes now flash with the 
flames of intelligent scrutiny upon your delibera- 
tions, should you punish as a crime in me the act of 
contending for the right of suffrage, for which 
their brave ancestors agonized and expired? How 
will you answer for such an outrage upon the sanc- 
tuary of freedom to the awful and violated majesty 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 285 

of these United States, who combine as with the 
congregated weight of the raging ocean to wreck in 
an instant the pretensions of any tyrant who shall 
attempt to violate the rights of their children? 
What plea will you offer to the advocate of mutual 
rights in your church, who spurn at lordly encroach- 
ments upon the heritage of Christ? And still more, 
what account will you render to the members of the 
Roanoke District Conference, from whom you hold 
your official existence ; to whom you stand pledged 
in the work of reform; and in whom, be you as- 
sured, you will find the most inflexible advocates of 
freedom, and the most invulnerable opponents to 
lordly pretensions in the Church of Christ? Lastly, 
how will you account with Him whose eyes are as 
a flame of fire, and whose voice is as the roaring of 
many waters, when He shall ask you why you sealed 
a brother's lips in silence, and bound him over in 
chains ? Can you expect from Him, for such a work, 
the soul-exhilarating plaudit of "Well done, good 
and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your 
Lord?" Will you not rather anticipate that fright- 
ful sentence, which will seize your souls as with the 
convulsions of an earthquake, "Depart ye cursed 
into everlasting fire?" This defence is not predi- 
cated upon suspicions of the jury; there are men 
upon that committee with whom I am willing to risk 
my sublunary all ; and over the two who have been 
the dupes of that man's policy I would cast the 
mantle of mercy. The collusion of the judge, Ben- 



286 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

jamin Edge, with that old Israelite who attempted 
to occupy a place on that jury, but whom I have 
been so fortunate as to identify as the prosecutor, 
averse to his own wishes and the expectations of his 
ally, and for which you have justly removed him 
from your committee; I say the collusion of those 
is a lively comment upon a mysterious vision pre- 
sented to my mind a few nights past. In appear- 
ance, a tablet of slate was before me, bounded on the 
edges or extremes with broken inscriptions, in 
bright characters, which one requested me to read, 
whose name I will not mention, but which I could 
not decipher; immediately through the midst two 
hands with arms from the elbows were collaterally 
extended with all the fingers in full perfection ; and 
although the ground of the tablet was like slate, and 
the color of the hands the same, yet the latter ap- 
peared in full relief and clear distinction; the whole 
appeared to emit a fervid glowing, like a piece of 
iron in a state of fusion. This instant brings the 
interpretation. Those collateral hands are those 
two men combined against me ; the color of the tab- 
let is the blackness of the plot; the fervid glowing 
is the characteristic of the spirit which conducts it. 
Further I will not go ; but I wait for time and cir- 
cumstances to develop the remaining mystery. But 
the charities of my heart are still enlisted in behalf 
of my prosecutor, and I could wish that the part he 
has acted in this afflicting tragedy could be wiped 
from the memory of his survivors, for his days are 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 287 

evidently almost run, and I am loth to see this stain 
affixed to his memory. But that man, Benjamin 
Edge, is the first traveling Methodist minister who 
ever reached this neighborhood without sharing in 
my sympathies and support; and even now the 
charities of my heart should overflow towards him 
in rich effusion did not justice to myself, my church 
and my country sternly forbid it. There is a point 
beyond which forbearance is an abuse, and we have 
reached it; and under the stern demands of prin- 
ciple I am now compelled to reverse, in this instance, 
the order of my whole life, and to recommend him 
(for his good) to your justice; a justice, neverthe- 
less, blended with mercy. Teach him to respect the 
rights of your church and country; let him know, 
freemen of Hyde, that until he shall do this you will 
do without him, and that he shall do without you; 
let him know that you tolerate his performances 
now more out of respect to his church than out of 
respect to his talents. Let him learn that that man, 
John Giles, a member of your own community, who 
rears a family for the commonwealth, can hold the 
handle of his plough every day of his life, and in- 
finitely transcend him in talents, though he devote 
himself to his profession alone ; and, indeed, where 
is the man on that committee who is not better quali- 
fied for public usefulness than he is? And, my 
brethren of the laity, while I really feel myself an 
unprofitable servant in the main, yet I am glad for 
your sake that the stroke which he has leveled at 
19 



288 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

your freedom has fallen upon me as your shield. I 
hold myself ready to be the packhorse of your bur- 
dens, and am prepared to share in your joys and 
sorrows; and I assure you that the devotedness of 
this day will never escape my fondest recollections. 
And now, my brethren of the committee, bring in 
a verdict which shall comport with the interests of 
your church and the rights of your country, and I 
shall be satisfied. 

COMMENT OF REV. JOHN PARIS 

(History of M. P. Church) 

The committee reported — "No cause of action." 
Was ever a vindication more triumphant? Was 
ever innocence more nobly or manfully defended 
than upon this occasion? No immorality whatever 
was charged against the Rev. Mr. Hill; but the 
specifications were for inveighing against discipline 
and sowing dissension in societies. Was it not pass- 
ing strange that Benjamin Edge should undertake 
to expel the defendant in this case from the pale of 
the church, depose him from the sacred office of the 
ministry, put the seal of official silence upon his lips 
forever, and arrest him from pointing sinners to the 
Lamb of God any more? And all this, too, for ex- 
pressing his opinion concerning the government of 
the church of which he was a member; an unalien- 
able right which every Christian and patriot pos- 
sesses in Columbia's heaven- favored land. Who 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 289 

can read brother Hill's defence without admiration ? 
How scathing it must have been to the feelings of 
the judge, if, indeed, he possessed much sensibility. 
One might conclude, from what he encountered and 
suffered on that occasion, that the Rev. Mr. Edge 
would ever afterwards suffer the friends of reform 
to rest in peace ; but we shall perhaps hear from him 
again before the close of this history. The address 
or defence, although severe, should be read by every 
lover of mutual rights ; generations yet to come will 
admire the man and applaud the Christian that thus 
boldly and fearlessly encountered the spirit of 
tyranny, and successfully withstood the insidious 
efforts of the strong hand of oppression. 



INTRODUCTORY SERMON 

Luke 12:32 — Pear not, little flock; for it is your Father's 
good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 

THE comfort, consolation and encouragement 
given in our text, have been, and ever will 
be, a sacred treasure to the faithful in all 
ages and countries. It was peculiarly so to the holy 
flock first addressed ; it should be equally dear to us, 
because to us alike applicable. Faith, unwavering 
faith alone, realizes its truth and energy. To the 
unbelieving Jew, the character and doctrines of its 
author were a stumbling block, and to the Greek 
foolishness; but to those that believe, and to those 
alone, the power of God to salvation. To every eye 
but that of faith, the prospect of those first ad- 
dressed was lurid, revolting and tragic. The sons 
of Abraham, anticipating in their long promised 
Messiah, a Joshua or David to lead them to victory 
and to universal empire, gnashed with their teeth on 
the Prince of Peace, whose language was, love your 
enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray 
for them that despitefully use and persecute you, 

Preached before the Alabama Annual Conference of the 
Methodist Protestant Church at its sixteenth session, Mont- 
gomery, Ala., by Rev. W. W. Hill, President of the Confer- 
ence. Published by order of the conference and printed by 
Sherwood & Co., N. W. Cor. Bait, and Gay Sts., Baltimore, 

Md., 1845. 

290 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 291 

that you may be the children of your Father, who is 
in heaven. The red dragons and eagles of the Ro- 
man power were pluming their pinions — springing 
their talons to execute the pleasure of the Pagan 
priesthood, and to drink the blood of the saints. 
Well might the Saviour address His followers as 
lambs in the midst of wolves, and bid them fear not 
little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to 
give you the kingdom. Oh ! how paradoxical, and 
yet how true ! A little flock of spirits changed from 
rebels into children of God, destined to conquer the 
world by innocence and love, before whose prayers, 
tears and innocence the iron legions of the Caesars 
were to melt away, and the opposing thrones of 
earth to crumble into dust. Eighteen hundred 
years have partly evolved the truth epitomized in 
our text, but eighteen hundred millions will not un- 
roll the whole. Eighteen hundred years, what do I 
say? For six thousand years the mere powers of 
earth, born amidst convulsion and strife, amidst 
convulsion and strife have flourished, until they 
sank away in seas of blood; and although the only 
kingdom of peace known to our poor troubled world 
is, and ever has been, the gift of the Prince of 
Peace, who encourages us in our text as His faithful 
subjects, yet this has ever been offensive to un- 
renewed men. Against it the heathen have raged, 
and the people imagined a vain thing; the kings of 
the earth have set themselves, and the rulers taken 
counsel together against the Lord and against His 



292 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

anointed; but He that sitteth in the heavens shall 
laugh and hold them in derision, and reign He will 
until all enemies, even death itself, are put under 
His feet. And can millions of years tell the whole 
result of this victory ? When ages numerous as the 
sands of earth have rolled by, the glories of this 
kingdom of redemption will be as untold as at the 
present moment. My brethren, you belong to the 
only undying dynasty, the only one that can conquer 
death and the grave. 

The doctrines of our text are the common inherit- 
ance of Christians; they have a social allusion, and 
apply to us, as an organized body or church. They 
are hortatory and declarative ; each part involving 
the idea of analysis; and all intended, as we have 
already suggested, to impart encouragement to the 
faithful. Every sentiment which dropped from the 
lips of the Saviour is worthy of our profound re- 
gard and deep attention, not only on account of hal- 
lowed authority, but of consummate wisdom. What 
metaphor could be more fruitful in allusion than 
that of a flock embracing the idea of a shepherd — a 
flock of spirits made innocent and lamb-like by the 
Spirit of God — a flock of souls redeemed, adopted, 
blest and led by the Lamb of God, who taketh away 
the sin of the world. Oh ! the flock, the shepherd, 
the pasture! Patriarchs and flocks — roses of 
Sharon — lilies of the valley — flowery vales of Pales- 
tine — soft azure of an Asiatic sky spangled with 
gold, you fade away in the presence of this spiritual 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 293 

paradise, gradually gliding into a new heaven and a 
new earth, abounding in righteousness. Innocence, 
docility, unity, dependence, danger and ultimate 
security are in strict unison with this metaphor. 
All must be regarded in a social light, for the text 
itself has a social bearing. The idea of a flock is 
that of multitude or many. We apply the idea to 
you as a Christian brotherhood grouped together in 
the Nineteenth Century — grouped together, my 
brethren, by the Providence of God, and not by your 
choice. As a matter of mere preference, where is 
the minister, where is the member, who would not 
prefer a place in some of the older, more numerous 
and wealthy denominations? Many of us are aged 
men; early associations are not easily abandoned; 
they are never forgotten; how gladly would we 
greet, with all the warmth of love, our brethren of 
former days ! How gladly would we commingle as 
formerly, at our firesides, social boards, family 
altars, the houses of worship our fathers erected, 
our camp grounds ; above all, at the communion of 
our blessed Lord! Many of us are young men. 
Can we for a moment doubt, my brethren, but 
houses and homes, and friends through the length 
and breadth of the land, would be preferable to now 
and then a friend, warm indeed, but few and far be- 
tween ? Yes, my brethren, but for the benevolence 
of a generous country, and the ardent co-operation 
of a sparse, though devoted brotherhood, your min- 
istry, aged and young, would not only pass through 



294 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

weariness and painful watchings, but hunger, fast- 
ing, cold and nakedness. This is synopsis of truth, 
and not the language of complaint. Oh ! no. It is 
the hand of Heaven, which has assigned us our place 
in the classification of the Christian world. Our 
choice is controlled by a sense of duty, not by views 
of accommodation or pleasure. 

But, my brethren, at the risk of our souls we must 
never outrage the bond which unites all Christians ; 
it is a bond of love, uniting each to the other, and all 
to God. Like the great law of gravity welding and 
uniting in a sort of oneness, innumerable worlds, 
this great law of love must prevail in all Christian 
churches. When it ceases to do so, they cease to be 
Christian, whatever name they may bear. On the 
other hand, our social identity must be mildly, af- 
fectionately, and firmly maintained. Remember, we 
believe our social state as Methodist Protestants, to 
be an appointment of Providence. As such it 
should be sacredly regarded by us. When a brave 
soldier has his post assigned him, he expects to 
maintain it or die, should his commander not release 
him. Moral courage, my brethren, is the most diffi- 
cult of all courage, the most heroic and God-like; 
he that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh 
a city. Marlborough made the throne of Louis 
XIV tremble, yet he was the slave of avarice. Alex- 
ander conquered the world and died the slave of 
dissipation. For a soldier of Jesus Christ to aban- 
don principle, is to outrage conscience, to rebel 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 295 

against God, and to sacrifice Heaven. The ends we 
are to answer in the plans of Providence are un- 
known to us. What we are doing we know not, now, 
but shall know hereafter. The interest of Christian- 
ity, of our country, of generations unborn, to an ex- 
tent never dreamed of by us, may be vitally con- 
nected with our rectitude and firmness as a church. 
When our venerable father in Christ founded his 
first societies, he little thought of wielding the fate 
of Protestant Christendom in the degree he has 
done. The doctrines of Christianity called Armin- 
ian, as taught by Methodists, seem dear to mankind, 
and with the exception of a few followers of the 
revered Whitefield, Methodists, in doctrine, are 
mainly one the world over. 

Notwithstanding this harmony in Christ, in social 
policy no Christian order was ever more diversified. 
There are many families of Methodists in the world, 
all varying to some extent in social policy. Our sub- 
ject is directly addressed to Methodist Protestants ; 
nothing unkind or disrespectful is intended to any 
other. Charity will allow us to prefer our own 
system. It is popular, originating from and con- 
trolled by the entire brotherhood — a system-spirit 
to our political system. It is well known to states- 
men, that civil and religious freedom flourish or 
fade, live or die together. Even Hume substan- 
tially admits this, and Chancellor Blackstone lays it 
down as an axiom. The weal and woe of our 
church and country are intimately connected; the 



296 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

causes favorable to one (I speak of social policy) 
will be so to the other, and vice versa. Refinement 
and virtue are essential to freedom. A high state 
of intellectual and moral culture the world over, 
would be a finishing tragedy to despotism in church 
and State, and the universal triumph of rational 
freedom. Whether our system is not in advance of 
the refinement of the age, is a question of deep mo- 
ment to our church and country. If so, hard trials 
and threatening perils await both. But, brethren, 
shall these things daunt us ? We are apparently a little 
flock; the strength of no Christian flock consists in 
numbers, but in gospel purity; the weak things of 
this world are intended to confound the mighty. 
Chariots of God and the horsemen thereof are round 
about the faithful; be a holy people and you have 
nothing to fear; in defiance of tribulation, distress, 
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword, we 
shall be more than conquerors through Him that 
loved us. Fear not, little flock. 

Innocence, my brethren, though a sort of negative 
virtue, should never be forgotten in the individual 
or social policy of Christians. A moral malady per- 
vades our nature, and the very elements of our 
world are poisoned with its infection. So limited 
is human foresight, that in defiance of our utmost 
precaution, baneful results ofttimes accrue from our 
actions, neither anticipated nor intended, and but 
for that great law in Christianity which neutralizes 
our weakness by scrutinizing our motives, not one 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 297 

of us could be saved. Happy is he who condemns 
not himself in that which he alloweth, and still more 
happy is the church which in the great day shall be 
found innocent of adding to human misery by indis- 
creet or malevolent action. That we may contend 
successfully for a prize so noble, let us first cau- 
tiously avoid the slightest collision with the policy 
of state, never indulging a thought that our duties 
as Christians conflict with our duties as citizens. 
Vagaries of this sort in different ages of the world 
have been horribly afflicting to humanity and deeply 
degrading to the Christian name. That strife and 
persecution, fagots and flames, commotions and 
war, carnage and blood, should ever have been the 
work of a human association, called a church of 
Christ, is humiliating and revolting, nor could we 
admit it, did not the tragedies of ages establish the 
revolting truth beyond successful cavil. Would to 
God that these bloody reminiscences belonged to one 
communion alone. Man is the same under the same 
circumstances, and it is as much a part of his nature 
to be intolerant and cruel, as it is of the lion to riot 
in blood. Thank God, the imbuing influence of the 
Gospel has imparted to our political institutions a 
sublimity and spirit savoring sweetly of the policy of 
Heaven. Among the moral sublimities of its policy, 
one is, that to all its children, it says, no vio- 
lence shall be allowed in matters of conscience. To 
all denominations, it says, whether you feel like 
Christians or not, to a certain extent you shall be- 



298 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

have as such. It says to every Christian denomi- 
nation — repose in peace upon my bosom under your 
vines and fig trees, cheered by the cooing turtle of 
innocence, and none shall make you afraid. 

What ecclesiastical or civil power, having su- 
premacy in any age or country, besides our beloved 
republic, has ever had a spirit like this and spoken a 
language like this? It is not toleration but equal 
rights. It is a common political parent, having the 
sword of Caesar and the suavity of Christ. With 
one hand quivering with lightning she protects all 
her children ; with the other she shades them under 
the peaceful olive and says, be quiet and happy. 
Blessed are the people saved of the Lord. But, my 
brethren, every blessing has its opposing dangers. 
No human system, however well balanced, has 
magic-working powers. The Gospel is a refining 
fire, searching the heart and the reins. Perhaps we 
are persecutors in spirit — perhaps we are despots at 
heart — perhaps if our true character were exhibited 
to the eye of man as it is to the eye of God, our 
hands would be dripping with the blood of the slain; 
and although our appearance, like the vision of the 
apocalypse, may resemble the lamb, our voice would 
be that of the lion. A persecutor in spirit is a mur- 
derer at heart, and all things favoring, he will not 
long hesitate to shed blood. Does your innocence, 
your exemption from persecution, as an agent, flow 
from the fear of civil pains and penalties, and not 
from the love of God and man? If so, you may 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 299 

give alms, attend our communions, and take part in 
all our services, but still you are out of Christ, and 
God to you will be a consuming fire. If, my breth- 
ren, our spirit and practice shall accord with our 
ecclesiastical bond, freedom will laud us, our coun- 
try will honor us, and best of all Christ will ac- 
knowledge and bless us, and pronounce us innocent 
of all the wrongs which may befall our country and 
humanity. 

Would we be innocent of promoting the scepticism 
of the age, we must avoid unkind or discourteous 
collisions with sister churches. The most deadly 
thrust to human happiness ever made by the enemy 
of man was made in the paradise of innocence, and 
the most deadly shafts he still hurls in Christendom 
are dipped in the gall of ecclesiastical strife. Thank 
God, there are no vital differences existing between 
Protestant churches, and even if there were, the law 
of love, the soul of the Gospel, can never sanction 
malevolent collision. What sweetness and strength 
characterize the reasonings of Christ and His apos- 
tles ! Good is returned for evil, blessing for cursing, 
love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, 
and pray for them that despitefully use you. Oh, 
my brethren, had these lessons been heeded by the 
churches, long ere this the strongholds of infidelity 
had been stormed, and millennial glory would have 
been pouring its unclouded lustre over Christendom. 
We shall do but little for the age or for posterity 
by adding another to the churches of Christendom, 



300 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

however lovely our social bond, unless we contribute 
in a fair proportion to the diffusion of Scriptural 
holiness among men. Indeed, should not our social 
action be wisely and piously directed, so far from 
being useful, we shall not be innocent; yea, verily, 
we shall be pernicious. Nothing can be more inno- 
cent and useful on earth than a truly Christian 
church, and few things more pernicious than a hu- 
man association so called, even if it has the form, 
but is destitute of the spirit and power of godliness. 
The former, in its soft, healing and healthful action, 
gently pervades all the relations of men, as the re- 
freshing dews did the fleece of Gideon. Its emol- 
lient influence glides almost unperceived through the 
whole frame-work of society ; individuals, families, 
neighborhoods, states, kingdoms, even the iron 
despotisms of earth, are changed immensely for the 
better, often without acknowledging the cause, and 
all is done so kindly and gently, so aloof from vio- 
lence, that the bruised reed is not broken, nor the 
smoking flax quenched, 'til He send forth judg- 
ment unto victory. 

Such were the primitive churches. Innocence, 
love and holiness of life, were the weapons with 
which they conquered pagan Rome. The latter, 
namely, a church so called, having the form without 
the spirit and power of godliness, is a bane to Chris- 
tianity and a pestilence to the world. Would to God 
that examples of the former were more frequent, 
and that the latter were a vagary of my imagination 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 301 

alone. Ah ! my brethren, St. John saw a church in 
prophetic vision, ages before it rose up amid the 
commotions of our poor world. It had two horns 
like a lamb, secular and spiritual power, but it spake 
as a dragon. How descriptive the appearance of a 
lamb and the voice of a dragon. The voice, not the 
appearance, is the true characteristic of the beast or 
church. It is paganism under a Christian name. It 
has been at war with the Lamb on Mount Zion for 
ages. It has rioted on the blood of the saints. It 
has, to a great extent, at different periods, turned 
the Alps, France, Germany, England, into a slaugh- 
terfield, and it now claims the right to withhold the 
word of God from our children in Protestant Amer- 
ica, and to offer us in lieu thereof its own expound- 
ings. Wherever the spirit of persecution and dicta- 
tion prevails in a church, though Protestant in name, 
that church is strongly related to this great spiritual 
mother of abominations, and will soon sustain its 
claims on similar ground. "Divinely authorized ex- 
poundings" (jure divino) is not a device of modern 
times. Beware, brethren, of the slightest tinge of 
this old persecuting spirit. When it is strong, it 
vomits blood and fire — when weak, as in our happy 
country, it spends its rage in sly detraction, shutting 
pulpits, and as far as it can, excluding from (aris et 
focis) altars and hearths. The children of this 
world are, in human learning, as wise as we are. 
Judging of Christianity from such examples, they 
consider it a hypocritical and ofttimes bloody farce, 



302 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

and sink into confirmed scepticism, or turn hypo- 
crites, and join churches in quest of popularity or 
pelf. In either case, they are gone forever — gone : 
without a miracle of mercy. My brethren, we are in 
danger from two sources — a temptation to become* 
a large flock, to boast of numbers, and consequently 
to augment our numbers by the reception of un- 
worthy ministers and members. Let us be content 
to be a little and pure, rather than a large and im- 
pure flock. Little flocks, in the estimation of men, 
may be the large ones in the sight of God. Thank 
God, we live not in a feudal age or feudal state. 
Our country guards with equal care and kindness a 
single congregation and boasted thousands. In an 
age of such light, and under circumstances so foster- 
ing, we can have no excuse for unwise collisions 
with our beloved country, or uncharitable collisions 
with sister churches. If ill betide the former or the 
latter, let us be innocent. Pear not, little flock. 

But, brethren, usefulness is our object; it is not 
enough to be innocent; if our powers bore any pro- 
portion to our wishes, we would fill the world with 
the knowledge of God, and every heart with His 
love. 

Unity is the first element of social usefulness. 
Christian unity is that of the spirit in the bond of 
peace. If one holy man fired with the love of God, 
can put a whole community in motion, and spread 
abroad a savor of life, extending to generations 
unborn, what may not one hundred, one thousand, 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 303 

or ten thousand accomplish? If the love of God 
and man, like a common soul, should animate the 
Methodist Protestant Church of Alabama what 
may we not accomplish, guarded by the Holy Spirit 
and led by the Captain of our salvation? If one in 
a darker age could chase a thousand, two put ten 
thousand to flight, what may we not do in this 
brighter age and lovely country, walking as we do 
with the redeemed upon the high places of the earth, 
far away from lions and ravening beasts of prey! 
Let us be one body in Christ, let us feel for each 
other, let us rejoice with those that do rejoice, and 
weep with those that weep; let us be of the same 
mind one toward another, and we shall soon be 
victors over death. Yes, brethren, those who were 
lately with us in conference are now in Abraham's 
bosom. Who shall harm you, if ye be followers of 
that which is good? Fear not, little flock. 

But there must not only be union, but system in 
social action; this is not only essential to beauty 
but success. What would betide our country with- 
out union and regularity? Instead of forming a 
sort of planetary system in the moral universe, har- 
moniously revolving about a common centre, under 
kindred influences, imparting happiness and peace 
to millions, they would be "wandering stars," tossed 
with tempest of blood and doomed to blackness 
and darkness forever. Yes, brethren, our action 
to be useful must be symmetrical; and thank 
God, we have a system of which we are not 
20 



304 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

ashamed. We do not say it is perfect, but we 
believe it as much so as any other. The best 
comment upon its real character which I can 
offer this intelligent assembly is seen in the con- 
stituent elements of this conference. What you see 
here, you would find in our General Conference 
(which is our congress) and in all our lower judica- 
tories. This is not an assembly of ministers alone, 
to act for others not represented ; it is the Method- 
ist Protestant Church of Alabama present in her 
representatives, not by courtesy, but by constitu- 
tional right. This is our system in a nut shell ; for 
details read our Constitution and Discipline. Of 
this system, we might be ashamed in Europe. Our 
ever venerated founder said it should have no place 
among his societies in England; he was a con- 
scientious Royalist; we esteem him none the less; 
he was an honest man, and true to the country which 
gave him birth, and in which mainly he lived and 
died. For the same reason we applaud him, we pity 
an American, who does not glory in our system. 
In this particular, namely church policy, we are 
pleased to find ourselves in accordance with a vast 
majority of Protestant churches; and what is more 
important, we find ourselves sustained by every in- 
dication of God's word bearing upon this point. 
The principle of representation is dear to North 
Americans, nor should we love it less in church than 
in State, if we love Christ as much as we love our 
country. Believing as we do, that civil and reli- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 305 

gious liberty must live or die together, as patriots 
and Christians, we never intend to surrender this 
principle; but at the same time, we make this no 
test of union. We bid Christians of every church 
welcome to our hearts and homes and pulpits. Our 
object is to diffuse peace and good will among men. 
We have met in conference that our social energies 
may bear fully upon this noble object; let every 
member of our body act with life and vigor; let 
nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but let 
each esteem other better than himself, for the per- 
fecting of the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
of Christ. Our system frowns alike upon anarchy 
and despotism; extremes we should equally avoid 
in practice. Let all things be done decently and in 
order, and the blessings of God, and of the pious 
await us. Though others may excel you in num- 
bers and wealth, let none outstrip you in holiness of 
life, in gospel urbanity, and according to your 
means, in gospel usefulness. 

But, my brethren, though our minds, our hearts, 
and all our energies unite, we must never forget our 
dependence. Forests may be felled, and fields 
tilled, yet the fig-tree may not blossom, neither may 
fruit be on the vine; the labor of the olive may 
fail, and the fields may yield no meat ; the flock may 
be cut of! from the fold, and there may be no herd 
in the stalls. God giveth the increase. Man is not 
efficient for good ; every good and perfect gift com- 
eth down from the Father of lights, with whom 



306 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

alone there is no variableness nor shadow of turn- 
ing. As a Christian church, our existence, success 
and salvation depend on the sustaining energy of 
the Holy Spirit. As anti-Christ in any of the ten 
thousand forms of deception, we may flourish in 
this corrupt, deceived, and deceiving world, and per- 
haps for ages, prove a snare and a curse to those 
who love and believe a lie, and edify those who have 
pleasure in unrighteousness; even as prophets we 
may prophesy falsely; priest may bear rule by our 
means and the people may love to have it so. Al- 
though this a wonderful and horrible thing, what 
has been may occur again. To exist as a Christian 
church, to draw our life and fatness from Christ, 
the living vine, to flourish with fruits of holiness, 
and finally to flourish in everlasting life, is one 
thing ; to form a party to rally adherents, to blend 
light and darkness, truth and error, zeal and fanati- 
cism, good and evil, almost the world and church, 
Christ and Belial, life and death, is another. The 
former is the work of God; it is a light shining 
brighter and brighter to the perfect day; the latter 
is the work of man, prompted by the evil one, a 
darkness gathering deeper gloom 'til merged and 
lost in the second death. Yes, my brethren, we 
must feel at heart our dependence on Him that loved 
us, that we may be a glorious church, without spot 
or wrinkle, or any such thing, that we may be holy 
and without blemish. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 307 

That we may feel our dependence more deeply, 
we must not forget our danger. Tempests gather 
in the serene heavens, whose track is desolation, and 
whose work is death. Poisonous insects lurk in the 
cells of flowers; deadly serpents creep amidst the 
shades of Paradise. The Church, the true Church of 
Jesus, has no home on earth, and the sunshine of 
the Nineteenth Century may be as trying to her 
purity as the darkness of the tenth. The ages of 
her persecution were the ages of her purity. Never 
did she appear more lovely than in the days of the 
Caesars, when the bodies of her children were fuel 
for the flames, or food for wild beasts and birds of 
prey ; at the very moment her name was cast out as 
evil, when she was expelled from synagogues and 
subjected to death in a thousand forms, her inno- 
cence was as unsullied as the snows upon the alpine 
summits, and her benevolence as bright and ardent 
as the beams of Heaven. Nor did she ever appear 
more ghastly or ghostly than when her pretended 
high priest, with his vicegerents, wielded the des- 
tinies of Europe. 

Ignorance, my brethren, would be fatal to you as 
a Christian church. The best friend of freedom in 
church and State is a high grade of intellectual and 
moral culture. Demogogues in State are almost 
ominpotent with an ignorant and vicious multitude. 
Despots in church are still more so, because no argu- 
ment can fathom the mysteries of their "jure 
divino" and their right to expound God's word and 



308 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

will. Methodist Protestants should study the Scrip- 
tures especially, nor should they neglect any branch 
of useful knowledge within their reach. They must 
understand their rights, privileges and duties as a 
Christian brotherhood, and sustain them unto death. 
Whenever, through indolence or ignorance, they 
leave them to other hands, they must become de- 
graded vassals, though doctors of divinity should 
lead them, and in matters of true piety gross dark- 
ness will fall upon the minds of both, and both will 
fall into the ditch. 

Need I add, viciousness would be fatal to you as 
a church ? As streams tend to the ocean and sparks 
to fly upward, so human associations tend to cor- 
ruption. A constant recurrence to first principles, 
an undying devotion to gospel holiness alone, can 
preserve you as a Christian church and make you 
useful to future generations. By wise and ener- 
getic action, put every member of your social body 
into vigorous exercise; heal the diseased or cut 
them off, or as a Christian church, you will only 
exist in name. Eet your fellowship be, in truth, the 
home of the pious, and the resting place of heavenly 
pilgrims, and God will be your refuge and portion 
forever ; but should you become strong in numbers 
and wealth through corrupt and mystic devices, 
though honored and flattered by men, the frown of 
Heaven awaits you. My brethren, be not only an 
enlightened and pious community, but a resolute 
one. 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 309 

Rashness or irresolution will be alike fatal to lis. 
Your moral courage will be assailed in many forms. 
Many of the pious in all the churches may deem 
your distinctive existence unimportant to Christian- 
ity, and as such may seem to neglect you; many 
others who are ignorantly and perhaps innocently 
the minions of power may oppose you, and all who 
are determined to sustain unamenable ecclesiastical 
power will assail you in some form, and if possible 
exterminate you. Our popular and private mem- 
bers will be flattered. Our young preachers will be 
coaxed, and our veterans and strong ministers will 
be persecuted almost unto death. So many forms 
of assault may deter all except the piously brave. 
Prove faithful unto death, my brethren, and a 
crown of life will be yours. The changes and revo- 
lutions which chequer the social history of our race 
are not things of chance, but controlling touches of 
that master hand which wields alike the order and 
ultimate destiny of the natural and moral worlds. 
When suns or planets disappear, or appear under 
new modifications, we admit a noble end without 
knowing what it is ; could our vision ken the mighty 
void, who of us would not be enraptured, to see new 
worlds springing into existence and brightening in 
the blue abyss? And although this has probably 
been the case from of old, from everlasting, yet 
there are still ample fields for an infinity of worlds 
yet unborn. When ancient states sink amidst the 
wreck of ages, and new ones arise; when ancient 



310 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

churches wane as all corrupt ones do, or disappear, 
and others spring from their ruins, though we see 
not the entire end, why not admit a wise and gra- 
cious one? When we fling our eye upon the dark 
map of our moral world, and only see here and there 
upon its loftiest eminences a mere fringe of heavenly 
light, and even this, deeply shaded with human 
weakness and wickedness, can we doubt for a mo- 
ment the utility and necessity of new moral and reli- 
gious creations under the name of churches, to aid 
in illumining and warming this vast, dreary, gloomy, 
moral and religious void? If the morning stars 
sang together, and the sons of God shouted over 
our new-born world, should not every Christian and 
every church rejoice to see a new star or sun fling 
its beams upon this deep and dark profound? Oh, 
that the work was done, that other laborers were 
not wanting in this moral vineyard! Oh, that the 
earth was already filled with the knowledge of God! 
But after the labor of eighteen centuries, how 
little is done, compared to what remains to be done; 
how many hundreds of millions of our fellow be- 
ings are without God and without hope, the vic- 
tims of the most degrading and cruel superstitions? 
Exert your energies, my brethren, and instead of 
opposing, pray God to send new laborers and 
churches into this immense vineyard. Your ener- 
gies should be well directed, or instead of doing the 
work of a Christian church, you will dwindle into 
a party club, you will have a name to live and be 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 3 1 1 

dead ; you may increase in goods, become numerous 
and wealthy, boast of your numbers and talk of 
your church, and yet be a mere rendezvous of buy- 
ers and sellers, demagogues, stock-jobbers, usurers, 
speculators and hypocrites. Such a church, though 
abounding in imposing rituals, and eloquent preach- 
ers, etc., etc., is a mere dice-box elegantly bound, 
and labeled in letters of gold, The Holy Bible. Is 
this a figment of fancy? Did such a church never 
exist? Are these colors overdrawn? Are they 
worse than whited sepulchres, full of rottenness? 
Than cages of unclean birds, or dens of vipers? 
Turn your energies upon yourselves, my brethren; 
examine your own hearts and deal faithfully; 
scrutinize every department of your social body, as 
with the candle of the Lord; bring all to the line 
and plummet ; let not your Discipline remain a dead 
letter to your own shame and the shame of Chris- 
tianity. Sooner than exist as a paltry sect, to 
wrangle for new moons, and fight for sabbaths, still 
worse to bite and devour, to return railing for rail- 
ing, pray God to blot you out. But, my brethren, 
though we thus speak, we are persuaded better 
things of you, and things that accompany salvation. 
Your labors of love are not forgotten. Though 
clouds and darkness have hung upon our pathway, 
eternal sunshine will soon be ours ; the day breaks, 
the shadows flee away, the winter is past, the rain 
is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, 
the singing of birds is begun, and the voice of the 



312 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

turtle is heard in the land. Fear not, little flock — 
it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
kingdom. 

But it was a little flock. Few fallacies are more 
flattering or pernicious than ideas of earthly great- 
ness, and none have less countenance from pure 
Christianity. In the scale of comparison, all per- 
taining to our planet is small; if all were brushed 
from being, it would be a mere atom, swept from 
the frontiers of existence, unnoticed, and perhaps 
unknown to an almost infinite majority of intelli- 
gences. In the scale of excellence, our paucity is 
still more humiliating. Compared to mere animals, 
we are something in intellect; to angels and God, 
the ever blessed, we are nothing; compared to 
devils, we may be something in morals and religion, 
but compared to the heavenly retinue, who contin- 
ually cry, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to 
receive honor, might, majesty and dominion, we 
may hide ourselves in the dust. All Christendom 
combined forms a mere speck upon the dark map of 
our moral world, and true genuine Christianity a 
mere point in that speck. How ridiculous then the 
vaunting vagaries of any sect! This is a trying 
period to the pure in heart — the pride of mere prose- 
lyteism so poisons the church, that from present 
prospects a new reformation era must soon relieve 
her, or she must be partially eclipsed by an age of 
scepticism. Had every child of Adam, in every age, 
been a faithful child of God, the flock of the re- 



SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 313 

deemed from earth would form but a small portion 
of the heavenly family. Sects are numerous, but true 
Christians form but one flock on earth, and a part 
of one universal family. That part or flock, though 
it included every child of Adam, would be small; 
but when all the ungodly are excluded how much 
smaller. As a flock of the faithful, we have a Fa- 
ther, a heavenly Father, who will give us dominion 
over sin, death and hell, by giving us purity, peace 
and endless life. It is your Father's good pleasure 
to give you the kingdom. Precious Father, precious 
kingdom, how can we ever feel like orphans, lonely 
or forsaken? Our earthly parents die, pass away 
and leave us orphans, but our heavenly Father lives 
emphatically, lives always, and because He lives we 
shall live also. Ah! we have a friend who ever 
lives to make intercession for us, and where He is, 
we shall soon be also. Have you come to this con- 
ference, my brethren and sisters, with troubled 
hearts for your church? Do you see some of her 
ministry staggering beneath the storms of time, and 
gradually receding from its labors and sufferings to 
more serene abodes? Do you see others covered 
with clouds of trouble and persecution; and others, 
and indeed all brave as the Spartan band, but like 
that band, as you may suppose, doomed to be over- 
whelmed by opposing multitudes ? Do you tremble 
at this prospect? Well you might, if an arm of 
flesh were your reliance. But if a crew was em- 
boldened in tempest, because Caesar was on board 



314 SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND PAPERS 

and encouraged them, surely we should triumph 
when the Captain of our salvation bids us fear not, 
and points us to a kingdom. That kingdom is the 
home of the faithful, and to it we shall all soon re- 
tire, far away from earth, its trials and sorrows. 
May the Lord prepare us for that happy change. 



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